Spiran Shinobi
by Post-Human Soldier
Summary: Naruto had enough of his miserable life, and makes a deal with the Kyuubi. Now he finds himself in a strange new world. Will Naruto be able to let go of his past and settle down? Unknown to him, this world is already in terror. On Indefinite Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix.

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 1: Farewell to a Familiar Home

* * *

At this point in time, a young boy named Naruto Uzumaki was sitting on a balcony that was just outside his apartment. His face was one of complete sadness. The cause of this expression was that it seemed that no one even remotely liked him, sure he had a few friends before. But that was before he brought Sasuke Uchiha back, even if he wasn't alive. His remaining team-mate, Sakura Haruno, openly cried into the deceased Uchiha's cold chest. When Naruto tried to comfort her, she openly punched him, straight in the face and then again in the shoulder wound that was caused by Sasuke's Chidori.

The recent wound was reopened, but it was quickly healed. Due to the Nine-tailed fox that resides within him, not by Naruto's choice. It was sealed into him by his greatest hero, The Yondaime Hokage. The one man that Naruto looked up to sealed the horrible beast inside him, depriving him of his one chance at a normal life. As a direct result of the sealing, the villagers despised him. Only a few people didn't, but they usually stayed away from him anyway, afraid of becoming isolated themselves. All through his life Naruto had to stand there, taking in glares, anyone else would have cracked under the pressure and committed suicide.

But Naruto had made it to the age of fifteen, and his clothes now reflected his emotional state. His chest was covered in a thin, blood colored, hooded, zip-up jacket and a black shirt that had a very faint red flame-like swirl. His pants were black with similar faint red swirls that went from the ankle to the knee. These clothes completely contrasted with his sapphire like eyes, they had lost their childish shine after taking down Sasuke.

Before that mission where everything changed, someone that he never suspected proclaimed their love for him. That person was Hinata Hyuuga, the heiress to the most prominent clan in Konohagakure. But since he brought back Sasuke, they had only met once. That one time was to tell him that she could no longer love a man who would kill their best friend.

Even the people who had always fostered friendship for him, namely the people who ran the Ichiraku Ramen stand, had turned their backs on him. Even his former teacher, Iruka Umino, the first person to really accept Naruto for being himself, had refused to have anything to do with him.

The people who had the worst reaction to the news were the civilians, they had practically worshipped the ground that the Uchiha had walked on. All the while spitting on the ground that Naruto had walked on. The only person who stood up for the poor child was the current Hokage, she even went so far as to invite Naruto to live with her. But he declined, Naruto wanted to live like he did before.

Naruto truly believed that nothing would change, but things did. The building he lived in was suddenly abandoned, even by the landlord. The council wanted him tried for treason and dishonorably discharged from the Konohagakure Shinobi Force. Naruto had avoided discharge, barely. The vote was 51% to let him stay.

So here we find Naruto, sitting on the balcony of his abandoned apartment building. Just staring over the village as he raises his hand as if to point to something, his lone index finger points at the stone face of the Yondaime Hokage on the Cliffside of Hokage Mountain. Without warning, he suddenly closes his hand into a fist. He muttered something. "Why me? Anyone could see that he was going to leave, I just did the only thing I could to keep him from enemy hands." He had been asking himself this question for almost a year now.

Naruto stands up, at the same time hefting his back pack along with him. He pulls his hood over his blonde hair, revealing a scarred Konoha Hitai-ate, the cloth sewed into the back, leaving the metal plate covering the back of his neck. In his bag, sat several sealing scrolls containing clothes, water, food, and written scrolls. About five hours ago the Hokage, Tsunade Senju, sent for him.

* * *

When he arrived, he was presented a scroll that detailed his father's last words. As he continued to read the final letter of his parent, he was trembling with anger, sadness and confusion as his father was revealed to be none other than the Yondaime Hokage. Anger at his father, for what happened to him. Sadness, as he remembered his life, and confusion at why his father did it. Why did his father seal the Nine-tailed Fox into his own son?

But the emotional floodgate was not opened with out some gold spilling out. From the same package as the letter, was a scroll detailing the way to perform the probably most feared Jutsu in the Shinobi world. The **Hiraishin Jutsu**, the very Jutsu that earned Naruto's father a 'Flee on sight' order in the Bingo book, also the same that earned him the nickname 'The Yellow Flash'. Not to mention the keys to the Namikaze manor. A building that was largely left alone after the passing of the Yondaime.

Before Naruto ended up at his apartment building, he stopped by the Manor. Hopeful that it could have more things that were his by birthright. Luckily it was still early morning so that most people didn't see him approaching the most revered building other than the Hokage Tower. According to the letter, the vault with the kunai that are needed for the Hiraishin to work, were in the house vault which was sealed by a blood seal.

As Naruto made his way inside, he noticed that the entire place was covered in a thick layer of dust. He sighted a thick wooden door with a paper seal, the seal itself had the kanji for 'blood' written on it. Naruto assumed that this door led to the vault. First wiping the dust off the seal, he bit his thumb and smeared it over the seal. Almost immediately, the seal burned, leaving the door accessible. Pushing the door open, he sighted the kunai at other end. Yet again these were covered in dust. There were about thirty or so kunai, all slotted into racks. A couple of custom kunai holsters were placed next to them. As quickly and carefully as he could, he started to load the kunai into the pouches. Noticing that these were not ordinary kunai, he took a good look at them. On the handles there were indecipherable seals, the blades were shaped differently too, it had three prongs instead of one. Other than that, it was slightly longer too, Naruto figured that they would be more useful as daggers than throwing knives.

After packing the kunai into the custom holsters, he turned around to head out. But something caught his eye. A small rectangular box with the two letters, 'K.U'. Wondering what this box was, he lifted the lid and was rather surprised. There sat a pair of swords, both about two feet long with a silvery sheen to the blades. On the bottom of the lid was a note. Naruto picked up the note and began to read.

'_To my son, Naruto_

_I know that this must be strange, receiving a gift from your mother after she died. But I want you to have these. Before I settled down with your father, I used these blades myself. They are a set of twin, spring loaded and wire attached blades with a range of twenty feet. Trust me these are really useful, they have helped me reach places I could not, and are meant for fast combat. I hope they become very useful to you as well._

_Love, Kushina Uzumaki'_

Naruto kept staring at the last few words before putting it down. And for the first time in a long time, Naruto smiled. At least someone didn't hate him, even if he never knew that person. With tears beginning to well up in his eyes, he closed the box and took it with him. Even if his mother couldn't hear him, he began thanking his her over and over again. Not for the blades, but for the love she had for him, even from beyond the grave.

* * *

Naruto was standing on his balcony, taking in his final sights of the place he once called home. He wouldn't be calling it that any longer, because the Nine-tailed Fox had offered him an escape from the place that despised him. The offer was remaining fresh in his mind.

[Flash Back]

Naruto entered his apartment and locked the door. He wanted to continue to his bed to lie down but he collapsed, drawn into his own mind by the Fox.

He woke up in inch deep water, the ceiling he stared at was a familiar one, but at the same time, one that he didn't like seeing. To anyone else it would seem like he was in a sewer, with red and blue pipes cris-crossing the ceiling. Letting out a content sigh, he picked himself up and looked at a massive metal gate. If it were reality, what resided behind them could crush the bars like nothing more than paper, but it wasn't so they could keep back anything. His eyes wondering up, they finally came upon a small paper seal. But they soon drifted behind the gate and to a faint shape in the darkness.

The shape slowly moved towards the gate and stopped just before it. The shape suddenly revealed blood red eyes with slitted eyes, along with a grin of massive, sharp teeth. Naruto stayed calm as he ever was and spoke without it wavering.

"What do you want Kyuubi? I suspect that you didn't bring me here without a reason." To which the massive fox just chuckled.

"**Correct Naruto, actually I have a proposition for you."** Before he could elaborate on this, Naruto spoke.

"Ah so there is something, but first of all, why should I and why would you?" he questioned with a devious smirk.

"**Very well, you should because I can give you a brand new life, with no repercussions. You can live out your life in relative peace, raise a family and settle down. For your second question, I have noticed that you have been rather down and with no sign of improving for over a year now. I wonder, what do you have to lose? People who hate you and eternal spite? At the very least think over it, I'll give you one hour. And on a slightly related note, I don't like seeing you like this, maybe I'm getting soft, but I don't want my vessel suffering."** With that the massive fox turned around and left, but stopped when Naruto shouted something.

"Ok, I'll do it. There is nothing left for me here, I thought there was when Hinata confessed, but since she took it back I've been feeling empty. I need something to move on, and you've provided me that opportunity. But I will have a few conditions." The Kyuubi smiled at this, Naruto's learning to bargain. "First, I want you to be my mentor, in both Shinobi arts and in general. Second, I don't want you controlling me, unless it's absolutely necessary. Tsunade-baachan said that if I rely on your chakra too much, I will die faster." The Fox simply nodded at these conditions, they were simple and could be easily accomplished.

"**Very well, kit. Before we leave you may want to say what ever goodbyes you can."** Naruto's reply to this request was a shake of the head. Of course he wasn't going to say goodbye, nobody needed him here. **"Do as you wish, but I warn you, for the first few weeks after arriving to where ever, I will be extremely exhausted. So I won't be able to help. And as for getting there, we will be teleporting. Basically we will be doing a massive Shunshin Jutsu. And note that this may take some of your own chakra, so be prepared."** After the talk was over Naruto was pushed back into consciousness.

[End Flash Back]

Now was about time to leave. Naruto adjusted the last of his things. The only thing that wasn't in a scroll was his mother's present. On the way home, he stole a sheath that could hold both swords, with the hilts over his right shoulder. He smiled, remembering the letter his mother had left him. This didn't last long as the Fox decided to interrupt.

"**Kit, you ready to go?"** The Kyuubi asked a lot softer than usual and also lacking his usual malice.

"Just one more thing, then we can go." Replied Naruto, as he stretched his hand over his back. Feeling something metal brush across his hand, he snapped his hand over the object and pulled. With a ripping sound, he tore off the Hitai-ate that was sewed into his jacket. And with a fluid movement, he threw it over to the middle of town. As he watched the glinting metal drift through the air, he whipped out an ordinary kunai and threw it at the discarded headband. The kunai had a single note attached to the ring behind the handle. "Now we can go."

Naruto let his arms hang limp with his back pack secured tightly. The Kyuubi initiated the altered teleport jutsu. Naruto could feel something crawling over his skin, he looked down and saw that he was getting covered in a black shroud. He didn't worry how ever. Once the shroud completely covered him, it started to contract. Until it got to the size of a marble, then it simply vanished.

* * *

At the town square, people were crowding around a discarded Hitai-Ate. One that had a kunai in the metal plate, and held a note attached to the handle-ring. If one were to read the note they would find a simple message.

'Naruto Uzumaki, is gone.'

* * *

AN: There chapter 1 done. Now if you wondering why I wrote this, then simply check my profile. But I just had a sudden urge to write this. And I would say that I did a good job for the first chapter.

Please review and look forward to the next Spiran Shinobi


	2. Chapter 2

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix.

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 2: A New Home

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demonic Talk"**

'**Demonic Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

* * *

The thing with inter-dimensional teleportation jutsus is that while you're going through them, you fall unconscious, even a Jinchuuriki will fall unconscious. As well this happened to our favorite blonde demon container, who almost made it through, but let go of his ability to stay awake near the end. But he did feel, though knocked out, the splash of water.

This is how we find Naruto Uzumaki, asleep whilst in the water. But in this particular area, it is rather rare to find water. So the water that the Uzumaki was in, has a rather good reputation of being a reliable clean water source.

As Naruto's eyes cracked open for who knows how long, he was assaulted by the sun's bright light shining directly into his eyes. His first reaction was to roll over and fall asleep again. But this proved futile as he plunged face first into the relatively cold water, effectively waking him up. Naruto's head snapped up to get his mouth and nose out of the air depriving liquid. The first thing that he saw, other than water, was sand and lots of it. Sand, a small pool of water, and a bright burning sun? That equaled only one thing in Naruto's head.

'A desert, the damned Kyuubi transported me into a desert. I thought I was going some where more tropical.' Naruto thought whilst plunging his head back into the water. After coming back up for more air, he finally righted himself up in the water. Treading water, he decided to consult the blasted Fox for advice.

"**So we ended up in a desert? I was aiming for something more tropical."** Back outside Naruto's head, he slapped his forehead. **"Don't worry Kit, if there's an oasis in a desert, than there must be life nearby, either human or animal. You know what? I bet you could use better eyes in this desert either during sandstorms or during the dark."** Naruto became a bit suspicious.

"What do you mean better eyes?" It wasn't he had bad eyes, but how could the Kyuubi make them better?

"**You know further sight focus and better sight during the dark. And it won't even change the appearance of your eyes that much, that's if you're worried about that. Just slitted pupils that's about it."** Naruto thought about this, weighing the pros and cons.

"Just slitted pupils? I don't want to have my eyes red if you do this." Naruto's voice started to lose its usual calm. The fox yet again finding this humorous, chuckled.

"**Yes, I promise. Having red eyes does make an intimidating sight though. But my guess is that you want to play nice for now." **The tone that the Kyuubi talked in was a serious one, but at the same time it seemed playful.

"How about I take a rain check on the offer?" Naruto didn't really need the eyes at the moment. Hearing the Fox grunt in acceptance, he took it as a sign to get moving. Naruto swan up to the shore and completely emerged from the water, where he was blasted with sudden intense heat. Remembering a little trick of surviving the desert that he learned from Gaara, he tried testing it out.

Focusing his chakra into something akin to a second skin, he instantly felt cooled down. Not wanting to know the basics, he needed to get moving, so Naruto, in all his wisdom, started off in a random direction. Not even stopping to try and adjust to the constantly shifting sands.

* * *

It wasn't long before he ran across a giant lizard-like creature. It was unlike anything Naruto had ever seen. The whole thing had to be at least two meters in length, covered in brownish-yellow scales and had fierce looking teeth. Not wanting to be hindered by running from a strange lizard, Naruto took cover behind a nearby dune before it saw him. He thought that this might be a good time to test out his mother's blades.

Reaching into his back pack, he withdrew the box that contained the short swords. Carefully taking the swords out and placing the box back, Naruto prepared for battle. Holding the left blade out in front whilst holding the right one above the other with his elbow bent slightly. The only thing strange with this form was that both the bladed edges were facing towards the ground. Satisfied with his stance, he started running towards the oversized lizard.

The beast heard rapidly approaching steps, turned towards the source and reared up onto its hind legs. Naruto was barely four meters away from the creature, when he suddenly kicked off his right foot and turned his body horizontal and sideways to the beast. With a twist he released the blade's lock mechanism and the blades shot out from the hilts, powered by springs and centrifugal force. As Naruto's body began to spin, the blades also began to spin alongside his body although outstretched.

The first blade came down upon the lizard's jaw and continued to slice a path down the throat, and lodged into the top of the ribcage. The iguana-like lizard howled in pain, but was cut short as the second blade came down and lodged into its skull, effectively cutting its brain in half. Feeling the blades stop twisting, Naruto stopped spinning and yanked hard on the hilts, pulling himself towards the lizard. As he leveled out with his feet aimed at the neck, the blades came free and zipped back into place on the hilts. The blonde's feet impacted the beast's neck, fracturing the bones. The bones that were fractured were soon pulverized as the lizard fell backwards with Naruto still hanging onto its neck.

Just as Naruto jumped off it and flicked the swords clean of the blood, the corpse of the animal started to fade and soon parts of the body glowed and floated off. Naruto was amazed at the spectacle he was witnessing, each small segment of the creature glowed like a bright rainbow was captured inside it. As they began to float higher into the sky, they began showing different colors, all the while followed by a ghostly tail.

When the glowing lights disappeared from sight, Naruto turned and continued off in his random direction. Unknown to him, during the fight he accidently deactivated his chakra skin.

* * *

After about another three hours of wondering the desert, Naruto had pretty much given up hope of finding any sentient being. At the moment the sun was still high in the sky, and the heat of the desert was seriously getting to him. Every thirty minutes he drank a few gulps of water, but it wasn't enough to stop him being worn down from heat. Before long he collapsed on a dune, his arms not responding and neither were his legs. With barely enough strength he turned onto his back, and let his eyes close.

* * *

A rather large machine was gliding over the sand dunes, barely touching the ground. The machine in question had ski-like plates of metal that served as steering and traction. The propulsion was provided by a large fan on top of the machine, it made quite a bit of noise but it traveled too fast for the fiends to care.

"_Don't push the skimmer too hard, or it will flip!"_ Shouted a man on the main hull of the machine.

"_Sorry sir, I wasn't trying to push it. I'm just exited to be going back to Home after this dig."_ The driver shouted back, in the same dialect.

"_Wait, hold up. I see something in the path up ahead!"_ Yelled the navigator, who was to the left of the driver.

The skimmer slowed down, and came to a stop right in front of an unmoving body. The men leapt off the skimmer and went to inspect the body. When they arrived, they could tell that who ever the person was, they were young. And their clothes weren't really suited to traversing the desert. They eventually took pity on the young man and took him with them.

Whilst, Naruto wasn't aware of what happened, the fox inside him was, he would have to tell his container what happened when he woke up.

* * *

The first thing that Naruto could tell when he approached consciousness was that he was lying on something soft. Not the softest thing he ever felt, but it was still rather soft although it was a bit lumpy. His head was resting on what felt like a flattened pillow.

'No better than the apartment back in Konoha.' He mused, as he tried lifting his eyelids up. The first thing he saw was a ceiling that kind of looked like it was ripped off part of a fence. Naruto rolled his head around, and noticed that the walls were rather similar to the ceiling, bits of sheet metal bolted to wooden stakes. Swinging his legs over the bedside, he brought himself up into a sitting position and tired to rub the tiredness out of his eyes.

"How long have I been out?" Naruto asked no one in particular. Actually he was hoping to get a response from the fox; instead he got one from outside of his head.

"About three hours kid." Answered a gruff voice. At the sound of the voice, Naruto snapped his head toward the door way, which was wide open. Standing in the door way, was a bald man with a goatee. His clothes were a bit surprising, it seemed to be a sleeveless jumpsuit, which was green with yellow along the seams. His gloves and boots were a deep blue, and were held together with black straps.

"_Daddy, let me in I wanna see him! He looked really interesting when they brought him in!"_ Shouted a girly kind of voice from behind the bald man. The man in the doorway simply rolled his eyes and sighed then replied in a kind tone.

"_Rikku, sweetie I'll let you in after I'm done talking to him."_ The man really did like a father to Naruto. This train of thought started him down a path of wondering what his future held. Completely blocking out the girl's outburst at her father, Naruto simply turned and looked out what seemed to be a window. Outside was the desert, in all its sandy glory.

"Sorry about this, but it seems that I'll have to talk to you with my daughter listening in. By the way, name's Cid." Said the bald man, now revealed to be Cid. Naruto turned his attention back to the door, and was held there for more than a moment.

Leaning against the now closed door, was a girl who Naruto assumed to be Cid's daughter. He quickly noticed her rather short…uh shorts, and sleeveless tank top. But what captured his interest was that her tank top was colored orange, which was once his favorite color. She didn't have much covering her legs, which stopped at her light yellow boots that were accented with dark brown leather. The girl's hair was a darker shade of blonde than Naruto's own, that was tied up in a short pony tail and had two tiny braids dropping down her neck. Another thing that intrigued him was the pouch around her right thigh, which looked suspiciously like a kunai holster.

The only that kept his attention, for longer than her shorts were her eyes. They seemed to have green irises and strange spiral shaped pupils.

Naruto's attention was broken when Cid coughed. Apparently he didn't like young men staring at his daughter, he doubted any father did. Naruto wisely turned his attention back to Cid.

"You don't speak Al Bhed do you?" Asked Cid, who waited patiently for an answer, while Rikku just stood there, trying to figure out what her father said.

"No, in fact I don't know what Al Bhed is." Answered Naruto whilst shaking his head.

"I see, well at least you can speak English. That will have to do for now. Ok first thing, you were found passed out in the desert, probably from the heat. It seems that the men that found you, wanted to save another life. But now we have a slight problem, you can't speak Al Bhed and at the same time we can either let you stay and you become one of us or you can leave, which basically means that you will be left out in the desert. The reason for an extreme measure of security is because our 'Home' is constantly in danger. Outside the desert, there are many who dislike the Al Bhed. We can not have our Home in danger from outsiders." Naruto was slightly beginning to panic, he didn't want to leave a place he just found. And besides these people were rather like him, hated by everyone else.

"**Kit, say you want to join."**

'Jeez, Kyuubi way to scare me, what makes you think they would let me?'

"**Because, you have some valuable skills and besides you can relate to many of the people here, there is only a language barrier separating you from them."**

'Yeah, I suppose but do you think that I could really be happy here?'

"**Don't worry, if desert life isn't your style, we could always find you a mate and then let the two of you run off somewhere."**

That mental conversation with the Fox, pretty much settled it for him. Naruto let a small smile slip out. Then he delivered his answer to Cid.

"Yeah, I think that I would do well around here. I'll join you."

"That's good kid, but still you don't know any Al Bhed, so you won't be of much use to us until you can understand and fluently reply to the rest of us." Naruto frowned at this, he wondered how long it would take to learn Al Bhed. "But I have a little proposition. You see I've been meaning to teach English to Rikku over there." He paused to jab a thumb at his daughter. "But as of recently I haven't had the time to do so. Would you like to teach her English, whilst she teaches you Al Bhed in turn?" The question that just came out of Cid's mouth pretty much shocked poor Naruto to no end.

He did manage to make a small nod. To which Cid clapped him on the shoulder and proceeded to make a small announcement. "That's great. But as you know, you're still an outsider to us. So I'll let you an' Rikku have your own room on one of the higher levels, she'll also be keeping an eye on you." It took roughly five and a half seconds for Naruto to process this. When he did, he almost fell over and was about to protest.

But Cid was already explaining everything to Rikku, in Al Bhed of course. She seemed excited at first, but then the blood drained from her face, and kept on draining, refilled suddenly and she went through several shades of red before fainting.

'Yeah, I reckon that it will take a long time to get settled.'

* * *

Ok Chapter 2 done.

Sorry for all those who were hoping for a NaruYuna story or NaruLulu, but the fact of the matter is that I don't see those kinds working.

Whoever can work out where I got the idea of Naruto's Twin Swords, they may get an idea of their choice implemented into Spiran Shinobi, that is if I can work it good enough, and please no requests for different pairings.

Now the main inspiration for this chapter came from Naruto's Final Fantasy, a great story if I do say so myself. And if you can't tell this will be NaruRikku.

Please stay fateful, Review and look forward to Chapter 3


	3. Chapter 3

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 3: Getting settled

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu!"

* * *

In many cases, a language barrier can sometimes break a friendship or even turn one into an unfriendly rivalry. This was not the case with Naruto and Rikku.

As soon as Cid left (not before giving Rikku a key to their new room) Rikku signaled for Naruto to follow her. He did so not out of instruction, but at least he followed her. Just as he reached the door, his mind snapped. He had almost forgotten his pack, along with his mother's swords. Rushing back to the bedside and grabbing his back pack, he slung it over his shoulders and ran after Rikku. She was waiting for him atop a sand dune, impatiently tapping her foot. As Naruto reached the top of the dune, he almost fell over in surprise for the second time in ten minutes.

Standing tall in the middle of the desert was a rather large tower, much bigger than the Hokage tower back in Konoha. Surrounding the tower were eight support structures, which seemed to have cables running down into the ground and were colored the same rusty metallic shade as the tower. For Naruto this was unreal, sure he had seen all kinds of things made of metal, but an entire tower was not on that list. Not wanting to be slowed down by simple awe, Rikku forcefully grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him towards the tower.

After a short trek, they entered the massive structure. Naruto should have been used to all the surprises that this desert had to offer by now, unfortunately he wasn't. Inside the massive metal building, it was rather cool, probably about 22 degrees Celsius. Also inside, and enjoying the cool, were hundreds of Al Bhed people walking from stalls with metallic shapes that didn't seem like weapons to Naruto, to stalls with fruits, vegetables and meat. The apparent trend for Al Bhed, seemed to be baggy jumpsuit-like clothes in bright and dark colors for men, and tight 'body-gloves' also in bright colors for the women. And there was no shortage of goggles, as nearly each and every Al Bhed wore them.

While still holding his arm, Rikku pulled the blonde Shinobi through the crowds of Al Bhed. It took a while to get to an elevator, and even the elevators were rather clunky and rusted at joints. The ride up was relatively quiet, mostly due to the fact that the two occupants couldn't understand each other and were not inclined to speak to each other. The only sounds that could be heard were the cables pulling the car upwards. When they reached their floor, Rikku took off down a corridor to the left with Naruto trailing behind.

"Jeez, this far to a room? It'd better be worth it." Naruto complained to himself. But Rikku thought that the foreign language was being directed at her.

"_Shut up, if I can't understand you, then don't talk!"_ She replied rather forcefully, yet again failing to get her message across. From her tone, Naruto deduced that she wanted him to be quiet. So for a counter-reply he just simply let out a sigh.

The room they were given was labeled in strange blue characters, that some what resembled mixed Japanese dialects. Naruto made a mental note of the strange strokes and the way back to the elevator. After Rikku unlocked the door and stepped inside did he see why Cid gave them this room.

The walls weren't much to look at, but there were windows, three to be precise. Each of the windows were roughly a square meter, and the panes were inch thick. The floor was covered in soft carpet. Naruto had to admit that it felt better than every bed he's slept on. Then there was the furniture, it wasn't too fashionable. But it seemed damn comfy. At the back near the wall opposite the door were two beds separated by a bedside table with a lamp on top. Directly to the left of the door was a corner that made up the kitchenette. While opposite that, was a door that supposedly led to the bathroom. All in all, Naruto thought that this was at least thirty times better than his old apartment, especially because he had a room mate for now.

Rikku, for her part, looked like she had seen better apartments. 'If there are better ones than this, I'll take those instead.' Thought Naruto, while Rikku made her way over to the kitchenette and inspected the fridge. After a minute of seeing what was in the fridge, she simply walked over to Naruto and made a few understandable hand signs, which roughly translated to 'You stay, here, ok?' For his response, it was a simple nod. She then left, taking the key with her and locking the door behind her.

Taking advantage of Rikku's temporary absence, Naruto shrugged off his back pack and started rummaging through it. After checking scroll after scroll, he finally picked out one that had a change of clothes. Releasing a sealed scroll isn't particularly hard, just focus a bit of chakra onto the seal and you should be fine. Naruto practically dumped all of his stuff onto the floor and proceeded to sift through the clothes that he could use. Eventually he settled on a cleaner set of his current clothes, although this time with a sleeveless jacket. He gathered up his clothes and resealed them.

Not really having any time before he warped, he took a bit of time to inspect his father's kunai. Just looking at the cursed things brought anger and hate into his mind. What was it that the Hokage said? That he took out an entire army with his jutsu, but how large was this army? Since it was in the third Shinobi war, it would have had have been an Iwa army. He remembered when he went up against one in the Chunin Exams.

[Flash Back]

It was his second time in the Chunin Exams, Naruto had to get through the first and second parts with Shikamaru's old team. Neither of them were of much help in the end, he had to drag Ino's unconscious body to the finish line in the second part. Unfortunately for him, these exams were hosted in Iwagakure. And most of the proctors saw that he bore a distinct resemblance to the Yondaime Hokage. The Iwa Jounin realized this and advised their squads to go after him.

But Naruto had pulled through. Ino and Choji were already knocked out, Team 8 didn't make it past the second exam even with having Team 10 as back up. Kiba got thrashed and Shino took quite a beating, if it weren't for Naruto watching out for Hinata, she might have lost her eyes to a squad of Kumo ninja. (AN: this was before Hinata renounced her love for Naruto)

Back in the Third Exam, Naruto was standing barely a few meters away from his opponent. A rather big person, he swore to crush the 'Miniature Yellow Flash'. Naruto obviously didn't pay heed to his promise, or the fact that he announced it to the entire crowd. With the big idiot still shouting to the crowd, he missed the proctor announce the battle start. Naruto simply held out his right hand and began to gather chakra into a swirling sphere of destructive power. Once the big guy turned around, Naruto had already closed the distance and thrust his signature technique into his opponent's stomach.

"RASENGAN!" Shouted Naruto, at the top of his lungs. The big guy simply gawked and was thrown all the way back into the arena's wall. Most of the crowed was livid at this point. Not only had a Yellow Flash look alike entered the Chunin Exam, he had also made it all the way to the finals and took out one of their strongest genin in a single hit, not to mention with the Yellow Flash's second most infamous attack.

Naruto was already making his way back to the competitor's box to wait for his next match when the proctor announced him the winner.

[End Flash Back]

His memories were interrupted by someone knocking on the door, and rather loudly too. Shaking his head clear, he sat up from the floor, unlocked the door and opened it.

* * *

Rikku was rather annoyed as she stomped through the markets, making her way to her old room. Not only had her father practically set her up with a boy, he wanted her to teach the newbie Al Bhed while he taught her English. If that wasn't bad enough, they had to share a room as well. Although on the upside she might learn more about Spira from this new arrival. 'He looks like the type to travel around and make adventure for himself. When we can speak the same language, I will ask him to tell me about a couple of his adventures.' With that last thought she began to think of something else. 'I wonder what he looks like underneath all those clothes, ooh I hope he's got nice muscles.' Her mind began to drift among all the possibilities of the blue eyed stranger. When she came across one that she really liked, she giggled to fight of a blush that threatened to take over.

Before she knew it, she was already at her room. Snatching up a duffel bag, she began to dump her spare clothes into it. Once it was full, she grabbed another bag she had lying around, and began stuffing it with various accessories and memoires. When she came across a picture of her mother she stopped to look longingly at it, before picking it up gingerly and placing it in her pouch. Stopping to look at her room for one last time, Rikku sighed and began the trip to the new high rise room.

* * *

Naruto opened the door to reveal a frustrated Rikku, who began to rant about in Al Bhed. Probably complaining about how he was late to answer the door. She stopped when she noticed something. To be precise, it was Naruto's three pronged kunai. At first she looked at it strangely, but soon changed into being fascinated with the throwing knife. Quickly losing interest like the hyper girl she is, she started to look at a wooden box. Naruto noticed that it was his mother's box. He crossed the room in two strides and snatched it out of Rikku's hands. She began to make passes at the box again and again. When she finally gave up, she sat down and made a cute pout and pleading eyes. Even for Naruto, this was incredibly hard to not give in. He reluctantly and carefully handed her the box. To which she handled like a new born child, to Naruto's approval.

After about ten minutes of fiddling with the box, Rikku just set it down. She was about to suggest starting on the language teaching, when she noticed that Naruto was already fast asleep. It wasn't even late yet and he was sleeping. A vein stuck out on Rikku's forehead as she made her way over to the sleeping Shinobi.

* * *

Down in his office Cid was busy going over his plans for a salvage mission, when he heard something.

SLAP!

The sound reminded him of when his wife was alive. She would slap him like that when ever he fell asleep on the job.

"It seems Rikku definitely takes after her mother." Cid said, still lost in his memories.

* * *

Naruto woke up with a red, hand-shaped mark on his cheek. He was glaring at Rikku with a look that screamed. 'What was that for!?'

Rikku responded with an all-knowing, nose-raised look that said. 'You were asleep, don't blame me.'

They both stared at each other for a little while, before both burst out laughing at the same time. It took a while for them to calm down, and just sit in silence. Even then, either one of them sniggered or stifled a giggle. Naruto, having enough of the laughing started and wanting to learn Al Bhed, went first. He pointed to himself and said "Naruto".

Rikku, not quite understanding simply copied him. This caused Naruto to bury his face in his palm, before standing up and walking over to her. He then seized her hand, and made it point to him, and saying "Naruto". Then he moved her hand to that it pointed at her, and said "Rikku".

Rikku now understood what he was getting at. She pointed at him and said her room mate's name, to which he nodded. Then he repeated the gesture, pointing at her and saying her name.

Things went like this for a while, with them pointing at random objects and saying their respective terms for them. That is it continued until they fell asleep against each other, due to tiredness. Subconsciously, Rikku snuggled up to Naruto, who returned the subconscious gesture by holding her waist and shoulder.

They were in for one hell of a morning wake-up call.

* * *

Yay Chapter 3 complete.

Next up will be a minor time skip. And yet again, I would like to give credit to **KitsuneNaruto135**, for his wonderful story, even if it is incomplete, and for being the main inspiration for this story.

Now my little challenge from last time still stands.

Whoever can answer where I got the idea of Naruto's Twin Whip-like Short Swords, gets his/her idea implemented into Spiran Shinobi. But the idea has to allow for NaruRikku.

Thank you all for reading and I hope that you read the next chapter when it comes out.


	4. Chapter 4

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 4: Two weeks later

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu!"

* * *

Usually waking up, snuggling into your friend would seem romantic. Nothing romantic happened in this particular situation.

Rikku, started to stir and felt her forehead pressed against something soft yet hard, and also warm and comforting. Her ears were filled with her own rhythmic breathing as well as someone else's. She could feel their breath brushing lightly across her neck. Cracking her eyes open, she was welcomed by the sight of a blood-red fabric. With a blush rapidly spreading across her face, she quickly tried to snap out of her room mate's embrace. But she was held back by a force within herself, it seemed part of her mind wanted to stay with him and drift back off to sleep.

Rikku was in luck however, because Naruto started to wake up. He could feel his arms wrapped around something soft and tender. There was also a slight pressure against his chest, like someone was pushing themselves into him. Opening his eyes and peering down, he caught sight of blonde hair against his chest. Naruto also saw his arms wrapped around the girl's waist. Once fully becoming aware of the situation, he found himself in a bit of Déjà vu. This happened before, although Rikku's reaction was a bit more violent two weeks ago. Smiling, he quietly whispered into his fellow blonde's ear.

"Rikku, wake up, if you don't, I won't show you how to throw kunai, or how to walk on walls." He knew that it was a little stretch, but it would have to do for now. Just last night he promised to show her how he could walk on walls.

Just as he predicted, Rikku's eyes snapped open and she rolled out of his arms and quickly stood up. Now it was her turn to do the teasing.

"Come on sleepy head, you better show me how you walk on walls or you're not getting any ramen for the next week." She may as well just threaten to ensure that he lost his ability to have children. Naruto bolted up and stared at her with a look that essentially screamed. 'You wouldn't dare!' Seeing her smirk had convinced him other wise. Then he settled down and looked at her admiringly. Rikku sure had come far in just two weeks, she was essentially on par with Naruto's own fluency. While his own accomplishments had shined in her eyes, in those same two weeks, Naruto had learned all the basic and advanced terms of Al Bhed, not to mention figuring out that Al Bhed and English were incredibly similar. The letters of the alphabet were just re-arranged.

They both stood there, just staring at each other with their respective faces. Until they both, outright burst out laughing. No matter how many times they played that game, it never got boring. While they were laughing they made their way to the kitchenette and proceeded to make their own breakfast. And Naruto was grateful, for once, to not have ramen for breakfast, (AN: Shock, Horror!) and instead just settled for an apple. It seemed that some of Rikku's habits were rubbing off on him. 'It was bound to happen sooner or later.' He thought.

"So, where are we going to go? So you can show me how to walk on walls?" Rikku inquired in a rather excited tone. Naruto just froze, mid-bite into his apple. He resumed his current mouth full, and then replied. He really didn't want to dash her hopes.

"Well, since your in your teens, it might be more difficult than if you were younger." Seeing her face fall, he hurriedly tried to cheer her up. "But don't worry, I said it would be difficult, not impossible. But still, you still have a way to go before walking walls." At first Rikku's expression pepped up a bit, but then fell down in disappointment. Naruto guessed that she really wanted to be able to walk on walls.

"So that means, the faster we get started the faster I'll be able to walk on walls like you?" She asked completely hopeful, complete with her hands clasped and shining eyes. Naruto had to suppress a laugh, it was simply too cute on her. After trying and failing to stop his rather small laugh, he nodded in affirmative. This caused Rikku to jump up and down with excitement, and then inadvertently wrap her arms around a very embarrassed Naruto's neck. What came next was enough to send him collapsing at the very memory of it. She quickly pecked him on the cheek.

* * *

After spending the morning trying to get Naruto up off the floor from collapsing every time he relived the recent events, they decided to go out just west of Home. Along the way, they just made small talk, sometimes with Rikku asking about the place he came from, which Naruto would just brush off as 'not important'. What he did tell her was that he didn't want to go back there, ever.

Soon they reached an ancient collapsed building, with the wall sticking straight up, and a small alcove they could use for shade. Taking a seat in the shade, Naruto invited Rikku to join him. A bit tired of the silence, Rikku decided to break it.

"So what are we going to do here?" She asked, sounding a bit bored.

"For now, you just have to focus on a... Uhh energy of sorts. It's located in the pit of your stomach, and somewhat represents itself as a river or a calm pool of water. You need to visualize this in your mind, and locate it." He tried to explain what chakra was, and how he felt it when he drew upon it. Rikku, looked a bit suspicious, but she tried it anyway.

She closed her eyes and tried to find something that felt similar to what Naruto was describing. At first all that she saw was a rather small puddle, but it began to slowly increase in volume.

Outside of Rikku's mind, Naruto was astonished. Rikku had tapped into her chakra faster than most children did, much faster. He was also slightly disturbed by the faint blue hue that surrounded her. Grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her to get her out of her trance, Naruto was rather determined to get her to stop. Not because he was jealous, but because she could end up hurting herself. After about half a minute of shaking her, the hue dissipated and she cracked open her eyes.

"Did I do it?" Rikku asked, suddenly hopeful again. Naruto found it hard to not laugh at her sudden change in attitude.

"Yeah, you did it. But that was the easy part, and I've got to say you did it faster than most people did." Her face went slightly pink, as she tried to find a response.

"W-well, I guess it's because I have a great teacher." She finally managed to get out still with a slight blush dusting her cheeks. Naruto found himself going a bit red from the praise he was getting.

"Gee, ya think so?" He asked while scratching the back of his head. Rikku just nodded with vigor. "Well, we can continue on that later. For now let's just try kunai practice."

Yet again, Rikku just tried to put on her puppy eyes. "No arguing."

Rikku just quietly cursed in Al Bhed and reluctantly accepting. For the rest of the day, Naruto was correcting, and praising Rikku's attempts at throwing a kunai. Once she got used to it, she began to hit closer and closer to the bull's eye. When lunch came around, Naruto dug out a couple of fruit and they ate in the alcove. They decided to head back inside before it got any hotter.

* * *

Once they got back into their room, Naruto immediately hit the sack, much to Rikku's annoyance. But yet, she didn't get angry. She seemed content to just sit there watching Naruto sleep. Rikku took the time to admire his arms, how wide his shoulders were and just about everything about him. It was then that it hit her like a run away freight train.

She was falling in love, with Naruto.

* * *

At the same time, inside Naruto's mind, he was talking to a particular Nine-tailed demon Fox. Naruto just stood in front of the giant cage, with his arms crossed and a smile plastered on his face. The giant red eyes of the Kyuubi watched everything and seemed to take in every detail. But the intimidating image was disrupted by a deep chuckle from the Fox.

"**Naruto, you sure have found yourself a good candidate for a mate. I wouldn't be surprised it you took my advice and ran off with her, found a nice little house and lived happily ever after."** The Nine-tails chuckled again, this time a bit louder.

"Hey, maybe you're right, maybe I should. After all a desert isn't the best place to bring up children. Neither is a place where you're constantly hated." At the last sentence his voice grew quieter.

"**Hey, now's not the time to be sulking, besides I think that someone is approaching the room."** Warned the demon.

Naruto woke up with a start, which was quickly followed by a squeak from Rikku. Not five seconds later, a knock on the door was heard. Getting up, Naruto opened the door. Only to find a messenger with a letter for the both of them, thanking the messenger he took the letter over to Rikku and opened it.

'_Rikku, Naruto_

_You have been selected to participate in a salvage operation in the ocean near the Baaj Temple. You can accept or decline, the decision is entirely yours._

_If you choose to accept, you will be expected to be with the rest of the excavation team early in the morning._

_Cid'_

Not even waiting for Naruto's opinion, Rikku immediately signed the letter in acceptance, headed back to the messenger who was waiting patiently by the door and handed it to him. When she came back she saw that Naruto was still in the same position when she snatched the letter from his hands. Snapping out of his shock, he turned and looked at her, with an annoyed face that said. 'I was reading that.'

Rikku just waved it off and skipped happily to her bed, where she fell down with a 'plop'. Taking a moment to go over what he had read of the letter, Naruto was still rather confused. 'A salvage mission in the ocean? Maybe I could convince Cid to give me and Rikku leave. I somehow doubt that he would let us go.'

Taking a hint from his room mate, he too returned to sleep, not before packing his bag with his mother's swords and the customized sheath. With everything packed, he fell asleep rather quickly. He also hoped that Rikku would wake him up when it was time to leave. It wouldn't go good on his record with the Al Bhed if he were late. As he let sleep claim his mind, the dreams of him and Rikku sharing a nice cottage, and children with blue irises and swirled pupils filled his head.

Unknown to Naruto, Rikku was having similar dreams.

* * *

Rikku was woken from her pleasant dreams by a consistent beeping noise. It kept going until it started to hurt her head. Lazily stretching out an arm, she sleepily found the off switch and slammed it down. Looking over to her room mate, she wondered how he slept through the torturous noise. 'Then again, it always took more than yelling at him to wake him up.' Rikku thought while letting a mischievous smirk grace her lips as she stalked towards Naruto.

'I wonder if this would wake him up. Judging from his reaction yesterday, it seems plausible.' As quiet as she could, Rikku leaned down so that their faces were almost touching. Taking a deep breath, she crossed the border and connected her lips with his. Just as she predicted, Naruto's eyes shot open and he scampered back to the edge of the bed where he promptly fell off.

Standing up, Naruto just stared wide-eyed at Rikku, all the while sputtering nonsense from his mouth. Rikku couldn't take it anymore and she just burst out laughing. She was laughing so hard that barely after ten seconds she was holding her sides. Just as Rikku stopped laughing, Naruto had an evil smile plastering his face. Almost immediately did she regret ever waking him up like that.

"Go get your things, and lock the door." Naruto commanded with a bit of mischief leaking into his voice. He was going to enjoy what he had in store for Rikku. Still a bit scared, Rikku did what was told.

As she finished gathering up her things, she noticed that Naruto had his pack on and didn't really move from the window. Then he motioned for her to come to him. She did so but hesitated slightly. And without hesitation from Naruto, He scooped her up and held her bridal style. To say that Rikku was a bit embarrassed was an understatement. Her face was completely red from the close contact.

With one foot, Naruto slid the window open and jumped out. Now free falling alongside the wall with Rikku screaming her head off, he focused chakra to his feet and snapped them to the wall. Rikku stopped screaming for a moment and started whimpering in fear, along with her severe astraphobia, she also had a mild fear of heights. She was holding onto Naruto with a death grip, using him as her life line.

When she calmed down, Naruto jumped again. Causing her to scream a bit before coming to a complete stop on the vertical wall. This went on for at least three more times before they reached the ground. And by the time they did, Rikku did not even realize it, she just kept her eyes screwed shut and her arms wrapped tightly around Naruto. Looking down at the shivering form of Rikku, Naruto suddenly felt guilty. He started to whisper sweet nothings into her ear to calm her down, slowly letting her down onto the sand.

After about ten minutes of trying to calm her down, Rikku was finally able to stand on her own two feet. Feeling relieved of the guilt, Naruto guided her towards the skimmers. Hopping onto one, he let Rikku sit next to him as they sped off to the waiting boat. When the skimmer started to slow down, Naruto noticed the vessel they were to perform salvage from.

Compared to all the other sea faring ships that he had been on, this one made them look small. The first thing that popped into Naruto's mind when he saw it was 'strange fish'. But then he realized that like all other Al Bhed forms of transportation, this too was made of metal. Attached to the deck was a crane and one that looked like it could lift a huge load. Strapped to the deck via chains and heavy duty rope were crates of various sizes and shapes.

Naruto could do little more than let out a drawn out whistle.

* * *

Chapter 4 complete

Doesn't the image of a whimpering Rikku held close by Naruto strike as being adorable?

And as for their dreams, visions of the future? Only time will tell.

And since nobody seems to have any idea where I got the idea of Naruto's twin whip blades. I shall reveal. I got the idea from Ninja Blade by FROMSOFTWARE, where there is a pair of practically identical blades called the 'Twin Falcon Knives'.

Thank you for reading and I hope you read the next installment of Spiran Shinobi.

Krimzon-8 Signing off


	5. Chapter 5

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 5: Zanarkand? Sin?

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu!"

* * *

Known by history, trips by sea have been known to take months to reach their destination. But for Naruto and Rikku, it barely took 4 days.

When the Al Bhed salvage ship arrived at the coordinates, the sky was dark and it looked like a storm was rolling in. Naruto was out on the deck of the ship, leaning on one of the rails, just looking out to the seemingly endless sea. Something about this particular sea made him worried. It was as if something sinister was going to burst out of the water and drag you under. Naruto's focus on the sea was broken by something appearing over the horizon. As he tried to make out the shapes in the distance, Naruto could barely tell that they weren't natural shapes. It was almost as if they were built like that, but as the ship drew closer it appeared that the shapes were more than likely ruins.

He thought he saw a dust cloud for a second, but he brushed it off and turned back to the ship's foaming trail that formed at the stern. Hearing the door to the quarters open, he turned and saw Rikku standing there in a diving suit that was accented with pink and yellows. One thing that Naruto, noted was that it was extremely figure hugging. So seeing her in such a suit made him blush a bit. That was until she spoke up.

"This is where you've been, come on we need to clear out the ruins." She looked up and down Naruto, noticing that he was wearing his usual attire. A hooded red zip-up jacket and very dark red pants. His short swords were strapped to his back in a single sheath. On his feet were black sandals, and attached to both thighs were kunai pouches. "You're not going to be wearing that in there are you?" This time Naruto checked himself.

"What's wrong with it?" He seriously couldn't see anything wrong with what he was wearing, although he did think that Rikku was wearing a bit too much.

"If you swim with that on, you're going to get soaked and you will move much slower. Not to mention you will leave a water trail for a while." When she had finished her little list of problems, he just laughed it off. "What are you laughing about? This is serious!"

"S-sorry, its-it's just that I won't need to swim." He got out while dulling down his laughter.

"What are you talking about? The ruins are over all that water, of course your going to swim!" Rikku all but shouted, and yet again Naruto just laughed it off. Her eye started to twitch. Soon she had enough of his laughter and forcefully pushed him off the edge. She was rather puzzled when she didn't hear a splash. Looking over the edge, she saw Naruto _walking_ _on water_. "How in Spira are you doing that!"

"Its kind of like walking on walls just a bit more difficult!" He called back, all the while keeping a steady pace with the ship.

In an instant Rikku's expression went from one of shock to one of complete amazement, as Naruto leapt back onto the deck. "You are going to show me how to do that, aren't you?" She asked with stars in her eyes and emphasized the 'are'. Giving her a thoughtful look, he kept the suspension up until he decided it was enough.

"If you can get the hang of walking on walls, then sure." Naruto's short reply made Rikku jump up and down in yet another fit of excitement. "Alright, alright enough of the jumping." Rikku immediately calmed down and was barely containing herself. "So we gonna go clean out the ruins or not?"

Then she put on a pouted lip and turned away from him. "Not unless you get clothes better suited for aquatic environments." Hearing Naruto sigh, she knew she had won.

"Fine, I'll be back in a few minutes." He left through the giant door and proceeded to his quarters, passing several of the crew on his way. Once he reached his room, he took scrounged through his bag until he found a scroll labeled 'clothes'. He emptied the contents and sifted through until he found some clothes made out of a thick-rubber like fabric that was covered in swirling red patterns on his legs and forearms, along the torso were dark blue wavy patterns, thankfully it didn't really hug his figure. For footwear he found some enclosed Shinobi sandals. And to complete the pattern outfit was a mask that reminded Naruto of Kakashi, his former sensei.

After strapping his short sword sheath along his back and his kunai holsters around his thighs, Naruto was satisfied with the look and walked outside to where Rikku was waiting. Walking out on to the deck, he said. "Alright we can get going now." Only to be replied by a splash from the edge.

Rushing over to the edge, Naruto saw Rikku surface about five meters away from the ship. Where she waved to him, and calling him over. "Come on Naruto! We need to get going now!"

Sighing, Naruto simply jumped off the edge and landed on the water's surface and walked over to her swimming form. Where she grabbed his ankles and dragged him under. When he was all the way under, she signed for him to follow. Knowing that she would see him walking on water as being a showoff, Naruto resigned himself to swimming.

* * *

Not long after reaching the ruins, were they finding a way into them. They settled on Naruto going through the top, seeing as there was something akin to a skylight up there, and Rikku going through the water and blasting a path for the other Al Bhed.

As Naruto reached the top, he noticed that there was a yellow-orange glow coming from the main atrium. The glow also seemed to flicker about, so it must have been a fire. Not seeing another way through the roof, Naruto climbed around to a flat part and readied a Rasengan. With a muffled 'boom' the roof gave way to a perfectly round hole. However the muffled boom was amplified in the ruins, with the sound wave causing the fire to go out.

Trying to make barely any noise, Naruto dropped down into the ruins. As he did he was greeted by moss covered bricks and rubble, not to mention the salt that was building up every where. As he made his way down a corridor where he reckoned the glow was coming from, he heard slight scuttling sounds. Quickly becoming on guard, he drew his short swords and held them backhanded. Increasing his pace slightly, he finally came across the main atrium.

Naruto looked over the ledge and spied a blonde haired person down in the middle and curled up next to the remnants of a fire. From Naruto's vantage point, he could tell that the new blonde was wearing something resembling a gauntlet on his left hand, while his chest was covered by a small yellow, white hooded jacket and a black overall-like shirt. He could at least tell that his boots were yellow. Placed beside him was a red long sword that some what resembled a fishing hook.

Suddenly the blonde that was curled up, looked right at the fire and shouted something that sounded like. 'No don't go out, uh I'll get more wood.'

'The guy's that desperate for fire? It's not that cold around here.' As Naruto finished his thoughts, the blonde below was jumped by a spiky, quadruped creature that had one wicked looking tail. 'I wonder how good he is with a blade, if he gets beaten up too bad however I'll just have to jump in and save the day.'

And so he watched the yellow jacketed guy fight this spiky creature, for about five minutes. It seemed that he was getting tired and a bit battered. So Naruto thought he'd made good on his self proclaimed promise. So he decided to get the drop on the creature by walking around the wall, jumping off and slicing it in half. Just as he got in position a wall was blown open, revealing Rikku and a bunch of other Al Bhed.

Rikku saw Naruto, hanging off the wall and feared he was going to do something reckless. And she was proven right as he jumped right off the wall, started spinning parallel to the ground as his blades shot out from the hilts. When he came close enough, the blades sunk deep into the creature's flesh and spurted blood geysers. As the he stopped spinning, Naruto yanked on the hilts, pulling the blades out and propelling him towards the creature. Aiming to crush it's spine with lethal kinetic force. As Naruto's feet connected with the spiky thing, a sickening crack was heard throughout the ruin.

Leaping off the creature and leaving the Al Bhed as well as the new blonde, gaping in awe. Naruto saw these faces and simply said. _"What?"_

With an ear-splitting shriek, the creature made it known that it wasn't down for the count. Sighing in annoyance, Naruto pulled a kunai from his pouch, twirled it a bit on his finger before throwing it over his shoulder. The obsidian kunai entered the creature's skull and split its brain in half, causing its legs to spill out below it and collapse as a corpse. If the human form allowed it, the Al Bhed's and the blonde's jaws would be hitting the ground.

"_Guys, you're seriously creeping me out here. Stop looking like that." _Of course his pleas went unheard. Even Rikku, who had seen abnormal stuff from Naruto, never knew he could be that stylish in a fight. Speaking of the devil, Naruto was waving a hand right in front of her face, trying to get her to respond. Rikku immediately snapped out of it, as well as the other Al Bhed. They soon focused their attention on the blonde who was still awestruck.

"_He could be a fiend wearing a human skin!"_ shouted one of the Al Bhed gunmen, who had their weapon pointed at the mystery blonde.

Rikku calmed them down momentarily, right before punching the mystery guy in the stomach, knocking him out. Then she essentially ordered the Al Bhed gunmen to carry him to the ship. They carried out their orders, even if it was begrudgingly.

* * *

Once they were back on the ship, Naruto finally got out of that suit. He didn't really think that it was comfortable. He changed back into his red jacked and really dark red pants along with his black sandals. As soon as he was changed, he walked back out to the deck intent on watching the ocean rise and fall. And do that he did, until the mystery blonde that the Al Bhed deposited near the supply crates, woke up. And the first thing that came out of his mouth was a loud groan, which was accompanied by a groan from his stomach. Naruto had to suppress a snicker.

"Hey, can you understand me?" The mystery blonde asked. Naruto looked around and saw that there was no one else he could be talking to, so he complied.

"Yeah, I can understand you. Don't try talking to the rest of the crew; they don't speak English, except for Rikku." Naruto said with a downcast expression.

"So where were you, when your buddies were out fighting?" The mystery man asked again. Naruto felt a vein pulse on his forehead, was this guy blind?

"For your information, I was the one that killed the thing that attacked you." That shut the guy up as he just mouthed an 'oh'. "First off, why don't you tell me your name? Then we can play twenty questions." Naruto said being slightly annoyed.

"Oh right, my name's Tidus. Perhaps you've heard of me? Star player of the Zanarkand Abes." As he said the last part he made a kicking motion. But Naruto was already lost.

"Star play of the zanar-what?" He deadpanned. Just after he said this, Tidus fell down on his face. Then he quickly got up.

"The Zanarkand Abes, the best Blitzball team there is!" He said feverishly, trying to get his point across.

"What's Blitzball?" Naruto inquired, being quite serious. And yet again Tidus fell down face first on the cold metal floor. Luckily for Tidus, Rikku walked out of the lower decks and froze, when she saw Tidus on the floor and Naruto leaning on the railings looking quite confused. It was then that Naruto noticed that she was standing there. "Oh Rikku, do you know what Blitzball is? Apparently this guy is claiming to be a player of the 'Zanarkand Abes' or something."

"Yeah, I know what Blitzball is, but I'm more surprised that you don't." She replied while showing as little interest than she usually does. Seeing Naruto's 'eager for information face' she sighed and continued. "It's and underwater ball game, where one team has to get the ball into the other's goal. It is currently the most popular sport in Spira. Satisfied?" Seeing Naruto nod she then turned her attention to Tidus. "What do you mean Zanarkand? That place has been deserted for about a thousand years."

"W-what!" The poor guy seemed devastated or at least incredibly shocked.

"Yeah, destroyed one thousand years ago by Sin." The last word had Naruto's attention. If an entire city was destroyed by this 'Sin' then why hadn't she told him about it?

"Sin." Tidus breathed, barely audible.

"Hey Rikku, who or what is this 'Sin' character? And why wasn't I told of this before?" Naruto was very interested, and he wasn't going to let this slide.

Rikku was about to answer, when they heard one of the Al Bhed shout.

"_SIN, SIN IS HERE!"_

Spinning to the stern, Naruto caught sight of a massive blue-grey fin that was covered in thousands of scales, rising out of the water. The single thing that was running through his head was 'What the hell? This thing is Sin?' In Rikku's mind something along the lines of 'I don't wanna die yet, I don't wanna die yet.'

The fin crashed down near the ship, creating a huge wave to wash over the vessel. Along with the wave several of the crew was swept off. But the fin kept on rising and splashing near the ship, each time making a wave of giant proportions sweep over the Al Bhed salvage vessel. Eventually Tidus was sent overboard. Naruto was a bit sad to see him go, but he had another wave incoming. This one picked up Rikku and took her with it.

As she was getting swept away with the wave, she cried out for Naruto. The blonde Jinchuuriki had a sudden moment of clarity. And with sudden speed, He dived off the boat heading straight for Rikku. Entering the murky waters of the deep, Naruto spotted a small dot of pink and various shades of yellow, and headed straight for it, kicking with all his might.

Seeing that he might not make it in time, he focused his chakra to do a Shunshin directly for her. Squeezing his eyes closed, he activated it and then snapped his eyes open. Sure enough, there was Rikku, barely a few meters away from him. With ever increasing urgency, Naruto swan full pelt, and managed to grab hold of her arm. Not letting her get away again, he snaked the other arm around her waist and began swimming to the surface.

Naruto felt his lungs begin to burn from the lack of air, he had to hurry. His arms and legs were beginning to succumb to weariness. For a silent moment, his peripheral vision started to darken, but it stopped when he broke the surface and sucked in glorious air. He also noticed that Rikku began to expel water from her lungs and also suck in mouthfuls of air. Then she noticed who was holding her around the waist. Without thinking, she threw her waterlogged arms around Naruto and held him close, all the while crying into his shoulder.

"I-I thought, th-that I was going to drown, b-but you saved me." Naruto simply held her close and whispered soothing words into her ear, hoping to calm her down. Seeing that she wasn't going to stop anytime soon, he pushed more and more chakra from his feet, slowly rising out of the water, until he stood on the water and holding Rikku bridal style.

Naruto could still see the ship from where he was, it seemed that they hadn't traveled that far and began to walk towards the ship. Hopefully there were still some people that made it.

* * *

Chapter 5 done!

Well, there we go, into the story proper. Thank god for weekends and boredom, without those two I wouldn't have gotten this chapter done this soon.

I hope that you people enjoyed this chapter of Spiran Shinobi and I hope that you read the next one. Please review and let me know of what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 6: Salvage and a Destination

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu!"

* * *

Searching a derelict ship can sometimes be seen as adventurous, not always. It can also be seen as the perfect setting for something horrible to happen. This is how we find Naruto and Rikku, searching through a ship for anything of use.

Salvaging what they could from an Al Bhed salvage ship may sound rather ironic, but it was incredibly hard. Quite a few of the passages were breached by Sin's attack, thankfully the bulkheads sealed when the hull breached, thus keeping it from sinking. One such passage was the hallway that connected to the crew's quarters, where Naruto and Rikku kept their belongings. This forced the duo to swim back out, find the breach, find a way around the other bulkhead, collect their belongings and get out. This proved much harder than originally thought, mainly because of the bulkhead. Another problem was that piranha-like fiends kept them on the defensive, forcing one to find a way around the heavy door and the other to defend them.

As Naruto sliced through another fiend, he turned around to see how Rikku was dealing with the door. She was currently fiddling with some wires in the electrical box nearby, probably trying to bypass the security measures. If Naruto had been so inclined, he would have just used a Rasengan on the blasted door, but he didn't want to risk any of the debris hitting Rikku. He was about to check his breather to see if there were any problems, when a vaguely humanoid figure swam past the breach he was guarding. Not sensing any of those piranhas close by, Naruto decided to carefully lean outside the breach. Not seeing anything remotely living, he was about to head back inside when he felt pain lance through his left arm.

Looking at his arm, he saw something that could only be described as a monster. At first glance the thing would look vaguely humanoid, but on closer inspection one could see massive fins lined with spines where the hands, feet and shoulder blades should be. Not to mention the head that sported large, yellow pupil-less eyes. Its mouth was more to be afraid of however, lining the jaw were probably hundreds of needle-like teeth. The one that Naruto was starting at had clamped its jaw around his left arm. Clenching his teeth to fight back a scream, Naruto quickly sheathed the short sword in his right hand, grabbed a kunai from his pouch and jammed it blade first into the thing's head, right between the eyes.

Naruto began to relax when the fish-man dissolved into the flying lights, which he discovered from Rikku, were called 'Pyreflies'. Unfortunately, his calm was quickly interrupted when he saw a gold colored fin out of the corner of his eye. Immediately grabbing the used kunai that began to sink, he got on guard again. Naruto felt the water all around him begin to sway in every direction with flashes of gold appearing in his peripheral vision.

Slowly edging back into the hull breach as he kept a good watch on the limits of his vision, Naruto almost passed the threshold when he heard a slight sliding sound, followed by a muffled impact. Risking his vision to look at what caused the sounds, he saw the bulkhead open, with Rikku already on the other side. Naruto let his guard down and only for a second. But that was all that was needed for the next wave of attacks to commence.

Not two seconds after Naruto lowed his guard was he hurled through the opening and slammed against the opposite wall. The force of the attack was enough to knock the breather out of his mouth and onto the floor. Naruto countered immediately after he recovered by slicing through the nearest fiend's neck with his kunai. As Naruto's attacker went down, others rallied to take down the troublesome Shinobi. Only one didn't go after Naruto, it went in search of easier prey.

* * *

Rikku was making good progress, she had over-ridden the security lockdown for the bulkhead and was close to her room. What she didn't expect, was that there were too many fiends for Naruto to hold off. Rikku just made it to her room, when she felt something grasp her ankle. Quickly looking back, she saw something that looked like an over grown gold fish, with one of its fins wrapped around her ankle. The first thing that came to her mind was to kick and hopefully loosen its hold.

When she did begin to kick with the other leg, the fiend barely flinched. Even as Rikku dug her heel into its blank eyes, the fiend only responded by holding tighter. Deciding that brute effort won't work, she turned to her winning aspect, cunning. Quickly taking a mental inventory of her pouch's contents, she settled on a simple fire marble. It might give her some distance in which to throw a grenade safely, other than that, she didn't really have many options.

Rikku reached down into her pouch and withdrew a small marble that seemed to have a fire burning inside it. Her throw may have been effective out of the water, but under the water, the thrown object was taking its sweet time. After what seemed like hours to Rikku, the tiny marble struck the golden fiend and ignited. The over grown fish didn't really burst into flames, but it more or less burst into a sudden eruption of bubbles as it writhed in pain. Taking the opportunity, Rikku swam hard and once she reached a suitable distance, she pulled a grenade from her belt, primed it and threw it straight towards the bubbling mass.

Shutting the door to the room she had fled into, Rikku braced against it for the grenade's detonation. 'One…Two…Boom.' She thought. Sure enough as soon as she finished her thoughts, the grenade went off. The resulting sound wasn't a 'boom' but more of a 'whump'. Relaxing herself, Rikku turned around and looked for her pack, hoping that Naruto could defeat the rest.

* * *

Back at the breach, Naruto had already defeated the fiends, the amount of Pyreflies floating about was proof of that. But Naruto was looking along the ground for something more important, his breather. He reckoned that he had about another couple of minutes before he ran out of air. Realizing that he might not find it in time, Naruto placed his hands in a familiar crossed hand sign. Directing his chakra to flow around his entire body and manifest outside of it, he released the technique. Suddenly, five more Naruto's were hurriedly searching the floor for the stray breather. The original Naruto kept himself still, as to use as little air as he had left.

After a minute or so, the clones dispersed and the original felt like someone had dipped his head in cold water. With his new knowledge, he quickly found the breather and replaced it over his mouth and began sucking in mouthfuls of air. Pretty soon, Rikku had swum back through the open bulkhead dragging Naruto's pack with it. Upon seeing that she was alright, Naruto wished he could smile, even if it was just to show her that he was glad for her safety.

After receiving his pack from Rikku, Naruto signaled for her to follow him to the deck. As she swam, Rikku couldn't help but notice that Naruto's arm left a trail of blood. She would have to ask him about what happened. This would be very soon, due to the fact that they were already reaching the water's surface.

Naruto jumped up onto the deck, and then reached back in to give Rikku a lift up. As he pulled her up, he noticed that she was eyeing his injured arm rather worriedly. Hopefully that was all she would do. No such luck.

"Naruto, how did you hurt your arm? It's bleeding a lot." Rikku asked, with more than enough concern in her voice.

"Uh, well you see there was this fiend that suddenly attacked me, it bit right into my arm. It wasn't a little fish either, it was a huge one." He didn't want her to worry too much about him, but at least it was a welcome change from all the hate he had endured. Just after he finished talking, Rikku moved right next to his arm and grabbed something from her pouch.

"Stay still, I'm going to see if I can't lessen the pain. Even if I can't completely get rid of it, at least having some of it gone is better, right?" What she had grabbed was a small spray bottle, probably filled with a disinfectant or numbing agent. The spray stung a bit after the application, but Naruto had felt things hundreds of times worse. He subconsciously touched his right shoulder, where Sasuke Uchiha had ploughed a Chidori through.

Pretty soon Rikku had cleaned the wound and wrapped in it bandages. When she finished, she noticed that Naruto was staring into space with one hand over his shoulder. Carefully, Rikku placed her own hand over his. This snapped him out of his haunting memories and to notice that Rikku was still a bit worried for him.

"What's wrong?" She asked, this time using her puppy eyes. Naruto sighed before responding.

"Just some bad memories." He answered while pulling her hand off his. He pretty much negated the 'puppy eyes' effect on men. "Come on, we need a map, compass and some kind of transport."

Rikku was partly stunned, but replied none the less. "Well, we have a map and a compass. And since the ship is wrecked we can't use it. But there should be a life boat around here somewhere." She looked towards the starboard side, her eyes following a line of chain. The chain stopped at a very dinghy shaped boat, complete with small engine and propeller.

Naruto came up beside her. They briefly looked into each other's eyes and nodded. Naruto began to pull the boat to the side of the ship. The actual pulling was a struggle, but he did get it into the water. Rikku was dragging the little supplies she gathered on their little search, most of which consisted of water and food. After they had the supplies on board, they began to discuss their destination. This in turn, brought upon a difficult conversation.

"Rikku, do you want to go back to the desert?" He knew it was a tough question, but it had to be asked. From what he saw of the map, there was a much larger landmass to the northeast of the desert island. Rikku suddenly looked down, staring intently at her feet. He knew what it was like, being asked to leave home, practically the only familiar place in the world.

"Well, I do want to see what the rest of Spira is like. But I don't know whether or not I'll be able to go back to Home." Rikku was rather attached to the home for her people. But it really wasn't anything great, she was sure that there were much better places. Yet it still hurt to think of leaving.

"Think of it this way. If you do choose to come along with me, I'll always make sure that you have the option to go back home. I give you my word." Naruto placed a finger under her chin and slowly pulled it up. Looking directly into her eyes he said the words that sealed the deal for her. "And I never go back on my word, especially for my precious people."

For what seemed like the first time for her, Rikku felt captivated by his shining blue eyes. She didn't want to look away, because in those eyes she saw more emotion than she dared to name. They shined with determination, burned with truth and glistened with hope. For a while she just sputtered, not knowing what to say. But then she uttered words that she didn't think would come from her.

"I'll go with you, to anywhere in Spira." Rikku's words were so quiet that they were almost inaudible against the wind. But Naruto heard it. Breaking the eye contact, he turned to the map that she had in her lap.

"So, where are we going to go? If the Navigator's words were anything to go by, we should be around here." He pointed to a patch of sea that was south of Bikanel Island, the Al Bhed homeland. "What about this island right here?" He moved his hand to a small spot of land north-east of their estimated position.

"Besaid Island." Rikku read out loud. On the back of the map were ferry lanes, she took a quick glance for Besaid's ferries. It appeared that a ferry would go from Besaid to Kilika Island. Than another one would go from Kilika to Luca city, where a major Blitzball tournament would be held. "Sounds good."

* * *

AN: done chapter 6

Ok I know that you people waited little while longer for this one. But I do have excuses, one would be school work. Another would be that I got a new game that I rather enjoy.

Ok so this chapter isn't really important, but I thought I might make something special out of it. Thus the decision to leave home, and don't get me wrong, I was rather tempted to put in a kiss somewhere.

Oh yeah and I've got a poll going and I wouldn't mind having some results by the end of the week *wink wink*.


	7. Chapter 7

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 7: An Island

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu or Spells"

* * *

Life traveling on the sea seems adventurous to many, but those who do usually don't think of the risks. Each wave that passes could be the end for any vessel traveling on the high seas. Luckily for Naruto and Rikku, barely anything happened during their boat ride to Besaid Island.

The most that did happen were the morning scuffles. Since the boat they were using was rather cramped, it left little space for sleeping apart. Every morning either Rikku was using Naruto's arms as blankets, Naruto ending up under Rikku, or where their faces were bare millimeters away from each other's, usually coupled together with their legs intertwined or their arms wrapped tightly around the other. There was also one time where Rikku woke up with Naruto's face in her chest. Needless to say, Naruto had a slap mark for the rest of the day. They eventually settled on just letting it happen, if they continued they might capsize the small boat.

Within four days, Besaid Island was in sight. From a distance, Besaid looked like a tropical island. But sticking out around it were rather irregular shapes. Some similar to the Baaj Temple ruins, others were much more simple. Naruto could recognize a dock and simple huts by a beach. But guessing from the distance, it would take about three hours to reach shore.

Now in most aspects Naruto was rather impatient. This situation was no different. He silently moved to the stern of the boat and prepared a Rasengan. As soon as he felt it form a perfect circle, he shoved it into the water. The result was a massive spray of water and instantaneous propulsion. But the momentum only lasted about a minute, so he kept doing this, trying to get sustained propulsion.

Naruto eventually succeeded, but by that time the boat was barely fifteen minutes away from shore. Sighing in defeat, he simply went over to wake Rikku, and inform her that they were close to the island.

* * *

On another part of the island, a different blonde was busy fighting dog-like fiends. Slicing through one dog with a blade that looked like it was made from water, he turned around to face the next. Only for that particular fiend to be hit on the temple by a white ball with blue patterns.

"What the hell Wakka, you stole my kill." Complained the blonde as he turned to glare at the person who threw the ball.

The person in question was a man in his early twenties. His hair was a shade of orange that was held up with a headband forming into a horn-like shape. His skin was a dark tan, covering his skin were some yellow overalls and a low shirt that covered his midriff. On his left shoulder was a strapped on shoulder guard that went along with the arm guard that was strapped over his forearm.

"Honestly, you two are like children." Came a rather husky feminine voice. "Especially Wakka when it comes to Blitzball."

The blonde turned towards this new voice and partly marveled at the woman. For the most part, she was wearing rather revealing clothes. A low-cut, fur-lined black and dark grey dress, below the waist was three quarters of a long skirt and a huge amount of interlaced belts. The woman's dark hair was tied up in a bun with hair sticks, and allowing long braided strands to flow down her back. Held in her right hand was a doll of what seemed to be a bear with bat wings.

"Ah, come on Lulu, lighten up. Me an' Tidus here were having a competition ya?" Spoke Wakka, in a rather laidback tone. As Wakka tried to reason with Lulu, Tidus' attention was focused on a slightly younger woman that was beside her. This girl had shoulder length brunette hair, dangling from her right ear was a long blue-beaded earring. The girl's clothes were rather ornate, aside from the black boots she wore. Her top consisted of a white sash that was wrapped over a spaghetti-string camisole. Covering her legs was a blue plaited dress with flower patterns. A yellow patterned Obi was wrapped around her waist and was tied in a ribbon at the back. Along her forearms were two separate white kimono sleeves. But that wasn't the thing that captured Tidus' attention. Her eyes, the girl had heterochromia with her left eye blue and her right green.]

"Yuna, we have to get to the docks in time. We can't waste any more time." Said Lulu forcefully, and at the same time, snapping Tidus out of staring. The girl named Yuna simply nodded and walked further along the path. Tidus stared at her back, but was yet again interrupted, this time by Wakka.

"Hey, come on brudda, let's continue our competition. At the moment the score stands at 2-1, and I'm winning." Tidus, simple laughed at Wakka's antics. After he finished laughing, he simply continued after Yuna and Lulu, with Wakka in tow.

* * *

Naruto and Rikku's landing was nothing to write home about. Rikku was up the front when the boat came into contact with the sand, so she ended up falling face-first into the sand. After she pulled herself up, she let out a cute 'owie'. Naruto had a hard time containing his laughter, she was just too cute when she fell. After a cursory glance over the beach, he deduced that either someone important was arriving or leaving. The large amount of people at the docked ferry gave it away.

Naruto wanted to inquire about the gathering, but their talking was loud enough.

"I can't believe that Lady Yuna is leaving. It seems like such a short time ago that she was just a child." One local said. "She's going on a pilgrimage like her father. I wonder if she'll be just as famous." Said another.

Who ever they were talking about, they must have been talking about somebody young and well known on this island. He couldn't get much more, because Rikku had tapped his shoulder and pointed to a path between two cliffs. "Someone's coming, you think it might be this 'Yuna' they're talking about?" She whispered into his ear. "But more importantly, how do we get onto the ferry? I doubt we could just go on board."

"You don't know until you try." Was his reply. Naruto simply got up and walked towards the docks, with Rikku hesitantly following. Ignoring the looks he was getting, he continued to what seemed like a guard, and stopped right before him. "Do we need to do anything special to gain passage? Like paying a fine or something?"

"Something like that, if you want to use the ferry than you need to pay to get on." Replied to guard.

"How much?" Naruto asked, pulling out a small bag from his pocket.

"Three hundred gil per person." Naruto pulled out a fist full of gold coins.

"Will this cover two people?" The guard and Rikku's eyes nearly popped out of their heads. The amount that he had pulled out was equivalent to buying a private yacht.

"M-more than e-enough." The guard stuttered out, but all in all he wasn't a corrupt person. "Look, I'm sure you worked hard to get these, but all I'll need is two coins." Naruto was a bit taken back but he accepted it anyway, Rikku never really told him of the currency of this world.

After paying the man, Naruto and Rikku walked up the gangway onto the ferry. Taking a seat near the portside handrail, they simply sat and waited for it to get started. Although Rikku was still a bit sleepy, so she let her head rest on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto wasn't really one to complain, but he had to admit that he was fostering feelings for Rikku. To return the gesture, he laid his head on hers.

Barely ten minutes later, the last of the passengers had boarded and the gangway was pulled up. Naruto had opened his eyes as the last passenger walked up. For some reason the last person to board looked rather familiar. He couldn't place where he had seen him. But there wasn't any time to place memories, the boat had started to move. And at the same time, Rikku began to open her eyes as well.

"Aw, now this area is crowded." She looked at Naruto with pleading eyes. "Can we go below deck and find somewhere with less people?" Yet again, Naruto felt compelled to follow her request, and yet he felt guilty. This time there was no ulterior motive to him to exploit. She was just asking something and here he was trying to find a way out of it.

"Alright." Naruto decided to play along for the sake of a joke. "Does your majesty wish me to carry her?" He said with a bow. Rikku put of a thoughtful face for a moment. Then she nodded, and rather vigorously. Seeing his plan fall to pieces, Naruto could only sigh and comply with her wishes. He bent down and slipped one arm under her knees and snaked the other around her shoulders. With a little squeak from Rikku, he lifted her up into the air. When they came to the door, Naruto pushed it open with his foot and slipped inside. Unknown to the both of them, a pair of eyes was watching the entire thing.

* * *

Yuna watched contently as a blonde boy in a red jacket carry a blonde girl into the lower levels. If only she had someone like that in her life. Someone who would care for her utterly, and with no questioning loyalties. Sure there were her guardians, but they more or less loved her like a sibling would, not like a lover. Watching the pair disappear behind the door, Yuna sighed. She didn't have time for sappy romances. She was on a pilgrimage to stop Sin. Just like her father before her.

Her gaze drifted around the ferry's deck and sighted several things. The first of which was Wakka giving his team a pep talk for their current practices. Another was Tidus talking to Lulu about who knows what, and the final thing was Kimarhi, her lifelong guardian. Even when she was a small child Kimarhi was there to make sure that nothing went wrong. The blue furred lion-man was extremely protective of her, even if it did get in the way of some new friendships. Even if he asked Kimarhi a question, he would rarely respond. Maybe it had something to do with his broken horn.

Turning her attention away from Kimarhi, she noticed that Tidus was now walking towards her. Yuna quickly spun to face the open sea to hide a small blush that was creeping up on her. It wasn't that she liked the mysterious blonde, she just didn't think it would be appropriate. Even if he was rather attractive, to her at least. When he first showed up on Besaid, he mentioned being from Zanarkand, but why would he from there. For all she new Zanarkand was a ruined city from one thousand years ago. Amidst all the fiends there, Yuna doubted anyone could set up a settlement.

After what seemed like an eternity, Tidus finally stood beside her and started to converse.

* * *

Laying Rikku down beside the stairs to the upper deck, Naruto simply chose to sit down beside her. That was until the entire ship shook with terrifying force. Naruto quickly stood up and motioned for Rikku to stay where she was while he went to check what was going on.

At first Rikku wanted to protest, but then he mentioned that he didn't want to see her get hurt. The thing was that she didn't want to see him hurt either. He reassured her that he would be fine.

"You better come back unharmed." Rikku pleaded, even going so far as to let her eyes water slightly.

"I told you, I never go back on my word. So if I say I'll come back unharmed, you can bet that I will." Naruto gave one last fox-like grin, before taking off up the stairs and through the door. Rikku could only watch as he went, clutching his bag with a death grip.

* * *

Naruto emerged from the lower decks to see a massive fin emerged from out of the ocean, barely along side the ship. Near the bow, groups of about three or four people were engaging in battle with creatures that were being flung from the massive fin. The creatures sort of looked like winged crabs. Although the 'wings' were purely aesthetic, probably meant to make them look scary. Seeing more of the creatures being flung from the fin, Naruto leapt into action.

Pulling out his swords, Naruto leapt above the combatants and swung the swords in a long sweeping arc. With the blades fully outstretched, they intercepted the creatures in midflight, cleaving them in half. The blades continued their arc and proved to be long enough to slice across the surface of the fin. The blades glided across the fin, slicing several of the creatures that had yet to be launched. The creatures that were effectively bisected tumbled into the water. When the blades started to retract back to the hilts, Naruto stopped swinging and let himself fall onto the deck.

Holding both the swords backhanded, Naruto landed in a crouch. Barely stopping to catch any part of his breath, he sprinted forward to the edge of the boat and leapt off. Naruto hit the water's surface running. When he got close enough to the fin, he flung his left hand blade, aiming for the top of the fin. Barely a second later, had Naruto feeling himself being pulled up by the hilt's retracting mechanism. Bringing the right blade to bare, he drove it into the fin's skin, creating a long gash in the flesh. Soon the blade wasn't sharp enough and began to slow down. Focusing his chakra into the blades, he repeated the mantra in his mind.

'Split the chakra in half and grind them against each other, when they are sharp enough forge them together.' He learned the trick from the Kyuubi, whilst on the life boat.

The blade Naruto was dragging through the thick flesh began to slice deeper and easier. Much like a hot knife through butter. As his swinging arc started to climb, Naruto pulled the blades out and landed on the tip of the fin. He bent his legs and leapt for the boat. Naruto noticed one character on the boat, waved her arms in a downward motion. Thinking that accomplished nothing, he continued sailing through the air until he heard a massive thunder clap. Twisting his body, Naruto saw a large patch of singed flesh on the fin. Soon after this, the fin began to withdraw into the watery abyss.

The fighters and Naruto began to relax, but one mentioned that they shouldn't. They also mentioned something about 'Sinspawn' being everywhere Sin went. It didn't take long for Naruto to put one and one together. He nearly dived back of the boat when he did. He had just fought Sin, or part of Sin anyway.

Sighing in defeat, he was about to go down a deck and reassure Rikku that he was still alive, when he noticed another blonde and an orange haired person jump right off the edge. While he watched this, a girl around seventeen years old with brunette hair and different colored eyes, came over to him. Naruto noticed that she was wearing something that reminded him of royal families back in the Elemental Nations.

"Excuse me. I watched you fight against Sin." Said the girl, rather nervously too. "I was impressed. You see I am a summoner. I am on my pilgrimage to defeat Sin; I would like it very much if you joined us."

Naruto was rather flabbergasted. He just helped defend a simple ferry and now he was being asked to join a quest. For one more time, he felt like he was actually appreciated in his life. Snapping out of his short mind-wander, he turned his attention to the girl who talked to him.

"Uhh, I'm honored, really. But I can't really do anything unless I consult my partner. Besides, I don't really know what a summoner is." He replied, but added in his mind. 'Sure I know what summoning is, it's a jutsu that calls a blood bonded animal.'

"Oh do you mean, the girl you carried inside?" Naruto stiffened. 'She saw that?' "And to what a summoner is. It's a person who can call upon creatures of magnificent power; they travel all over Spira with the goal of reaching Zanarkand and receiving the power to defeat Sin."

Naruto only heard one part of her last spoken words. 'Travel all over Spira? This could be useful, I might find someplace to settle down and live out my life. Or what is left of it anyway.' He thought, weighing the pros and cons. But then he remembered that the summoner was waiting for an answer.

"Uhh, I'll have to talk to my partner, do you mind if I give you my answer when we reach port?" He asked a bit unsure. To his relief the girl simply nodded and walked back to her companions.

'Well I wonder what Rikku will think of this development.' Naruto thought as he made his way down the deck. As soon as he entered the door, an orange blur crashed into him and held tight. 'Yeah, this might take a little while.'

* * *

Chapter 7, completed

[Insert victory tune]

OK, as of very soon I will be on a holiday. Don't fret I will continue to write, but I won't be able to upload. So you might want to expect a couple new chapters when I next update.

As before there is a pole on my profile, please vote.

Look forward to the next, Spiran Shinobi!

Krimzon-8 out.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Hey guys, have I got a treat for you, since you've all been waiting so patiently, I've written three new chapters, I've reread them and corrected most of my mistakes that I usually make. I've also continued the story, past the point of my original inspiration. From here on out it's my own plotline. Hope you enjoy the new chapters as much as I've had a blast writing them.

* * *

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 8: Kilika

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu or Spells"

* * *

Usually in coastal areas, a natural disaster is one of the worst things that could happen. The worst of them all would usually be a tidal wave or tsunami. Gigantic walls of water that could tear coastal towns from their foundations and drag them into the sea. Naruto wasn't sure what he would see at Kilika Island, but this was on the last thing of his list.

The entire waterborne town was swept away. Not much had survived the disaster. Everywhere he looked he saw destroyed bungalows supported on ever weakening poles. Very few of the supported pathways remained intact. From what he overheard from other travelers, Kilika was once much, much larger. Looking around, Naruto saw that probably only one fiftieth of the town's structures were not wiped away in an instant. Departing from the ferry, he turned to the summoner and spoke.

"Was, all this caused by Sin?" he asked, glancing over the destruction.

"It seems so. All the more reason to increase our efforts to destroy Sin." She replied solemnly.

Taking Rikku's hand in his own, Naruto walked down the remaining walkway. About halfway to the shore, a group of people confronted the summoner, asking about performing a 'sending'. With her guardians following her, Naruto reflected on his conversation with the summoner.

After talking it over with Rikku, they ultimately decided to tag along, but not be official guardians. They were going to relay their answer, but before they could, the ferry came to Kilika and its destroyed village.

The two continued through the town, pausing every now and then to talk to the local survivors and browse the shops that were still open, despite their recent stock reduction. After exiting a general traveler's store, they beheld a magnificent sight. Not far in the distance, pyreflies floated like a great rainbow mist upwards. Both Rikku and Naruto were gaping at the fantastic display. But as quickly as it started, it finished. The two of them quickly shook off their amazement, and following another villager's advice, headed to the village temple high on the nearby mountain. But as they were walking away, Naruto decided to comment on the spectacle they just saw.

"You know, that was the second most beautiful thing I have ever seen." He said with a slight smirk on his lips. Rikku wondered about all the things she ever saw, but nothing had been quite as pretty as dozens of pyreflies flying past a setting sun. So pretty soon she succumbed to curiosity.

"What was the most beautiful thing you've ever seen then?" She asked almost bouncing up and down with curiosity. But Naruto simply chuckled and leaned closer to her ear.

"You." The way he said it made shivers run down Rikku's spine. It was unpleasant, but at the same time she wanted to feel it again. And that was when her mind fully translated what he had said. Completely stopping in her tracks, she replayed the recent conversation again and again in her mind. This was interrupted by Naruto asking if she was alright. Rikku quickly looked down to hide a blush that was quickly spreading across her face.

Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her along down the path. Sometime afterwards, Rikku realized that she still had feet and began to walk on her own, although still holding onto Naruto. Pretty soon they found themselves in a jungle of sorts. Everywhere they looked there was life in abundance, whether it was bugs, lizards that ate the bugs or some plants that ate the lizards. It also appeared that the path through the jungle to the temple was winding and crossing over other paths.

* * *

Naruto and Rikku, slowly but surely found their way through the jungle. Not to mention the fiends they encountered. There were living plants, giant wasps and large lizards. More often than not, Naruto would be reminded of The Forest of Death. The stairs leading up to the temple were irritating in their own way. They weren't kidding when they said that the temple was high on the mountain. He had climbed high flights of stairs, but this one took the bowl of ramen.

Climbing the stairs took Rikku almost forty five minutes. That was if she wasn't being piggy-backed by Naruto. But for Naruto, even with the extra weight, it only took fifteen. Reaching the top, he carefully let Rikku down. Around that time, he took in the sight of the temple. It was absolutely breath taking. Lining the main courtyard were pillars of various heights, and donning the top of each pillar was a fire sealed into a glass bubble. If they were natural fires, they would have been extinguished long ago. But these fires were staying lit with magic. And atop the temple itself, was a massive fire bubble.

Around the courtyard there were many villagers whose homes had been destroyed, and with having nowhere else to go they sought refuge in the temple. Walking inside the temple, here were just as many people. Lining the central chamber were statues of former High Summoners. The most recent addition was labeled, 'Lord Braska'. The statue stood tall and proud among the others.

Naruto's awe was interrupted by a sudden rush of people coming into the temple. Many of them were shouting.

"Sin Spawn! Sin Spawn on the stairs!" The yell was accompanied by a loud crash from outside. Naruto and Rikku glanced at each other before running out of the temple. From atop the stairs they could see the spawn. It had nestled itself on a small stone plateau that served as a rest stop for people climbing the stairs. The monstrous beast looked half-plant and half-creature. All along its plant like body were scales that seemed completely out of place.

Glancing at his swords on his back told him that they might not break through that natural armor. But like it or not, he would have to try. At the moment there wasn't any one else to count on to fight alongside. A look towards Rikku saw that she was more than willing to fight the spawn. This naturally worried Naruto, he didn't want to get her hurt, even if it were to save many more lives. What ever choice he was going to make, he wouldn't like it.

"Rikku, please don't fight this time. I can't bare to see you get hurt." He said turning towards her. Immediately her face filled with red, but this wasn't a blush, she was red with anger.

"What? I came all this way with you, fighting fiends in the jungle and you won't even let me have a shot at the big boss?" She answered back, furious. And before Naruto could start, she took off down the stairs straight for the Sin Spawn.

Naruto cursed and gave chase, but instead of running down the stairs, he opted for a faster way. Building up chakra in his feet, he leapt far forward as to not crash into the stairs. That would be painful. On his flight down the stairs, he passed Rikku, and flashed a grin at her. When he was fearfully close to the plateau, Naruto brought up his legs and braced.

His feet hit the hard stone with enough force to make it crack, but that wasn't all. For as soon as he hit, his legs sprung out, propelling Naruto straight for the monster. With the blades in hand, looking for any kind of weakness in the fiend's defense, he struck.

CLANG!

Much to Naruto's shock the blades bounced off the scales lining to monster's skin. The monster showed nothing that anything had even hit it. But then it saw Naruto, raised one massive limb and brought it down upon him.

Rikku reached the base of the stairs just in time to see Naruto get crushed under the spawn's appendage. The monster raised its arm again, only to bring it back down on Naruto. Being desperate to save the one person who has been her friend recently, Rikku grabbed a grenade and a flame crystal out of her pouch. She slotted the crystal into a compartment in the grenade, pulled the pin and threw it with all her might at the monster.

The modified grenade exploded in a shower of napalm and shrapnel, igniting the Sin Spawn's scales and causing it to scream in pain. It backed away long enough for Rikku to get close to Naruto's body. With haste she tipped a potion into his mouth. All the while praying to whatever deity that she wouldn't have to use a Phoenix Down. She almost began to cry when he didn't begin to stir. But then Naruto's eyes began to flutter and his breathing started laboring.

Rikku now broke down into tears and threw herself onto Naruto. But before he could do anything, she was ripped away and tossed aside by the Spawn. Seeing Rikku being torn from him with her arms still flailing helplessly and her scream ringing in his ear, was enough for Naruto to see red.

* * *

For the first time in several weeks, Naruto found himself standing before the Cage of the Kyuubi. The red water slowly raising past his mid thigh, with each millimeter it crawled, more and more power grew within him. Echoing through the tunnels of his mind, a voice laden with malice called.

"**Naruto, I feel a great anger rising within you. Take my power and we shall strike down those who have harmed your precious person."** Spoke the voice.

"Yes, indeed." Naruto looked up at the cage, staring into the red eyes of near-pure evil.

* * *

Outside the mindscape of Naruto, Rikku was laying on the edge of consciousness. She could barely make out the figure of Naruto beginning to stand up. Even as far away as she was, Rikku could still tell that his eyes were not the same. Instead of glowing bright blue, they were now shining with the color of blood.

Each step Naruto took more and more red started to coat his body. Eventually it reached all over his body. Bubbling over his head, two appendages began to slowly rise out of the bubbling mass. Along his lower back, more bubbling occurred, and two more appendages slowly extended from the viscous red substance.

When all appendages fully formed, Naruto was standing on all fours, his whisker marks thickened and his nails and canine teeth extended. From where Rikku was laying, Naruto appeared to be a red two-tailed fox. Even from where she was, Rikku could feel the very air thick with killing intent. If that wasn't enough, the very air stung with the vile substance that excreted from Naruto.

Naruto raised one of his feral looking arms and made a swiping motion in front of him. The energy from the swipe knocked the Sin Spawn sprawling to the ground. Stalking closer to the toppled over monster, Naruto raised another claw. When he was in touching distance of the monster, he sliced his arm across the body. Blood gushed out from the wound in the spawn. Occasionally a couple of pyreflies fluttered out. But Naruto didn't let up, he kept slashing and slashing at the creature that injured his friend. Not stopping until the spawn was nothing more than a pile of gore that slowly evaporated into pyreflies.

Only when all the gore had dissipated, did Naruto finally look over to Rikku. She was clutching a bleeding wound in her side and dribbling blood from her mouth. When he saw her he fell to his knees and let out a feral roar. Then the cloak of red disappeared. Naruto picked himself up and ran to Rikku's side. Grabbing her hand, he felt that she was still warm.

'She's still alive!' Naruto thought as he picked her up in his arms and started to climb the stairs to the temple. He was only half way up when he heard someone whistle. Looking back down, he saw the summoner and her guardians, waving to him. Naruto's eyes settled on the summoner. 'I pray that she knows white magic.'

Bolting down the stairs to them, he stopped right in front of the summoner and softly paced Rikku at her feet. Looking up to her with his eyes close to tears, he began pleading.

"Please, save her. I'll do anything just please save her!" Naruto's eyes were filled with unshed tears. "I don't care what the price is, just please save her." Naruto had pleaded before, but that was of mercy. This pleading was of suffering.

Quickly, the summoner held her staff in front of her and began chanting. After what seemed like an hour to Naruto, but only was a single minute in reality, the summoner finished and laid her hand upon Rikku's wound. Within moments the wound began to close and her breathing became stable.

"Thank you." Breathed Naruto. "You have done something I may not be able to repay. Should you need anything of me, do not hesitate to ask." With those final words, he picked up Rikku's unconscious body and carried her off to the temple, where he could lay her down in a warm bed and wait. Wait for her to wake up.

* * *

AN: Well chapter 8 done. I know it's been a while but you know, being on holidays and all. I didn't really get a chance to upload, so I had to wait until I got home to do so.

As for my competition that I closed down at chapter 4, I finally got an answer to it. Although they were a little late, but as a show of good faith, I shall implement said person's idea into Spiran Shinobi. Although I tried to start that in this chapter, it didn't end up good. So I morphed the idea into the Demon Fox Cloak. I think it worked rather well.

I also forgot how well Avatar: The Last Airbender was executed. It seems that even though I've watched it all before, I still want to watch it again and again. Don't get any ideas I won't be writing a fic about that, the best I would do is a one-shot.

That's all for now, Look forward to the next Spiran Shinobi!

Krimzon-8 out


	9. Chapter 9

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 9: Waiting and a Boat Ride

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu or Spells"

* * *

While we sleep, we can have many different dreams every time. Some we might remember, others we might not. In the case of Rikku, her dream was something that she had already seen, and didn't want to see it ever again.

In her dream, she was before a vicious fiend, one that could tear her limb from limb with no trouble. Yet this wasn't what scared her. Standing next to her, was her newest friend. The very one that she had began to foster feelings for, Naruto Uzumaki. But this wasn't the Naruto she fell in love with. The Naruto she fell in love with was happy, funny and energetic. This one was full of anger, hate and spite. The once sapphire blue eyes that were signature to him had turned blood red with slits for pupils. The whisker-like birthmarks that adorned each cheek had turned thick and dark. His finger-nails grew longer and sharper. The canine teeth had lengthened also. To complete the picture, Naruto was on all fours and growling at the fiend.

With sudden speed, the feral Naruto had pounced onto the fiend and started tearing at it. With each swipe, chunks of flesh flew off and left trails of blood in their wake. When the fiend finally stopped struggling, Naruto had jumped off the creature and changed back into the person he once was. As he turned to look back at Rikku, his eyes widened in horror. He rushed towards her, and just before he reached her, Rikku woke up.

* * *

Gasping for air, Rikku's eyes shot open. All she saw at first was a ceiling that could only be described as unfamiliar. She stretched her neck around, trying to see where she was. A weight on her stomach had her constricted. Rikku lowered her eyes to see what the weight was caused by. To her shock, there was Naruto, lying on the bed. No doubt he was waiting for her to wake up, but he fell asleep whilst waiting. She felt a giggle escape and placed a hand on his head. Rikku stroked his hair, coaxing him to stir. But then a rather embarrassing idea came to her.

'I really shouldn't, he's asleep. But then again, if I do it then he wouldn't know.' She thought to herself. But her body had other ideas, for her eyes started to focus on nothing but his lips. She unconsciously started to move closer and closer to Naruto's face. But at the sudden proximity he sensed, Naruto began to stir.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes, was Rikku's face barely inches away from his own. With no other reflex, Rikku's face began to fill red with a blush. She was frozen, she couldn't do anything at all. All of a sudden, Naruto flung his arms around her and held her tight.

Rikku was rather stunned; she didn't know what was happening. When he finally let go she saw the tears streaming down his cheeks. Saw his eyes, burning with worry and glistening with wet tears. Every breath he made shuddered from fear. The bags under his eyes said that he waited long and hard, for her to wake up.

"I'm was just so glad to see you alright. I was starting to worry you had slipped into a coma or had a concussion." He said in between choking sobs.

"But, why? I'm not sure why you would be so happy." Rikku replied quietly, as she brought her arms up to return the embrace.

"Because, I was so worried that you had been seriously injured when we fought the Sin Spawn. I'm just so happy that you're alright." As he said this, Naruto tightened his hold around her, as if the moment he let go she would disappear.

For her part, Rikku snuggled into the warm embrace to avoid showing her unshed tears. To her, his hugs were warmer than any blanket. She returned the gesture by snaking her arms around Naruto's waist and held just as tight.

Naruto lifted up his head to listen to a sound that was coming from the temple. It was the sound of a heavy door opening and several sets of feet walking down a flight of stairs. The steps grew louder and louder, until they were right outside the door. The handle turned and the thick wood creaked open.

Standing in the doorway was the summoner who healed Rikku. Naruto's features immediately softened when she entered the room.

"Here you are I just thought that you should know. The ferry that goes to Luca is going to leave in a few hours. If you want, you could travel with us to town." She said with a bright smile on her face.

Naruto looked at Rikku, who gave a slight nod. Then back at the summoner, to which he nodded. The summoner clapped her hands together and closed the door. 'No doubt she's going to tell her guardians.' Thought Naruto as he turned back to Rikku. "Can you walk? Or do you want me to carry you again?" Rikku just gave him a sly smile. 'Oh great, should of kept my mouth shut.'

* * *

Tidus was suspicious. That was the best way to sum it up. He didn't like how Yuna always went to talk to some great swordsman. It happened on the ferry to Kilika and it just happened now. Sure he had seen the guy, but that was only once, and after he killed a Sin Spawn all by himself. Although it did seem that his partner got hurt in the fight. He practically kneeled and begged Yuna to heal his partner. She did it, but the guy swore that if she asked anything of him, that he would do it.

"Yo, Tidus, what'cha worried 'bout, ya?" Spoke Wakka. "Come on, we gotta pray. Ya know? For victory."

"Oh, it was nothing." Tidus replied with a scratch of his head. "Yeah, pray, I'll be right th-" He was about to continue when Yuna came back.

* * *

Unluckily for Naruto, Rikku did indeed ask for him to carry her. In addition to his backpack that weighed about four kilograms, he had to carry a three quarters grown girl in his arms. So much was the pressure that he had to use chakra just to keep standing. To say that it was a hard climb down the stairs would be an understatement. Every step down was a chance to slip and fall the rest of the way, and end up with a few broken bones and possibly a concussion.

Rikku actually could use her legs, but she chose not to. She liked to be treated like a princess, and she made a point to make sure Naruto knew it. But at the same time, she didn't want to overexert him. So before they got to far down the stairs, she started to talk.

"Naruto, if you get tired. Don't be afraid to let me down. I can't have you collapsing suddenly." She whispered to him.

"If that's the case, then you can walk by yourself for now." As he talked, he started to lower her to the ground. To which she started clinging tighter, and allowed a defiant look to cross her face.

This pretty much happened all the way down the stairs. When they reached the ground, Rikku reluctantly let go and started to walk by herself. Waiting for them at the base of the stairs, were the Summoner and her guardians. They exchanged pleasantries and set out through the jungle. Naruto and Tidus occasionally sending wary glances at each other. Naruto could finally place where he had seen him before. He was at the Baaj Temple. If he ever remembered who they were. Surely someone in the group disliked Al Bhed. Naruto hoped he didn't remember before they reached the ferry.

Mostly, the guardians did all the fighting, since Naruto and Rikku must have been still tired, according to Yuna. By the time they exited the jungle, the sun was almost setting. The group began to hurry along the walkway that led to the ferry.

The group made the boarding and nearly all of them collapsed on the floor. The exceptions being Kimarhi and Naruto. What startled the others was that Naruto seized Tidus by the arm and whispered something into Rikku's ear, before dragging Tidus around a corner.

Pressing Tidus up against the wall, Naruto began to ask the questions he was itching to speak.

"Do you remember me and Rikku?" He asked quietly and at the same time, forcefully. Tidus looked thoughtful for a moment, but his mind clicked.

"Yeah, you guys were on that boat with the ruins. Right?" Responded Tidus, with the same quietness.

"That's right. Now are there any Al Bhed haters in your group?" He growled the question out, letting a little venom seep into his voice.

"There's Wakka, the guy that uses the ball. That's it I swear. I think he hates them on a personal level. I don't know the specifics." Tidus whimpered a bit when he answered. Naruto could almost swear he could smell urine.

"Ok, you're free to tell anyone except him. At least for now, that is." As he finished, Naruto dropped his arms and wondered back to find Rikku.

Tidus stayed there for a while, well after when the boat set off and the sun set. He must have been there for a good three or so hours, just thinking.

Rikku and Naruto went below deck and slept where they did on their last ferry ride, by the stairs. This time Rikku slept on Naruto's lap, while he had his arms wrapped around her. During their slumber, they heard several thumps against the walls and polls of the ferry. There was a small cheer, but the two shut the sounds out, resigning themselves to the steady chug of the boat's engine. Pretty soon they both slipped into deep sleep.

* * *

When dawn broke, a whistle blew throughout the boat, waking all those asleep. Breakfast was left up to each individual. For Naruto and Rikku, they simply ate some biscuits. Although somehow, Naruto managed to conjure up a cup of instant ramen, which Rikku demanded that he share with her. Naruto was defensive to say the least. But again, even his natural instinct to defend his favorite food was quickly overcome by a quick peck on his cheek. With them sharing the cup of ramen and the single set of chopsticks, Rikku brought up something that just occurred to her.

"You know, since we're sharing the chopsticks. We're i-ind-directly k-k-kissing." She struggled out, while trying to contain a blush. For Naruto, he let his face get a little red, but quickly resigned to quietly eating his share of the ramen.

After devouring the remaining ramen and disposing of the container, the pair ran across a traveling merchant. The man introduced himself as O'Aka XXIII. He explained that he spent most of his money on trade goods instead of travel fees and food bills. So he stopped business in favor of begging for a little more money. He asked the pair of blondes for two thousand Gil. Naruto didn't see the harm in it, and as he did with most of his shopping in Spira, he overpaid, for which the merchant was most happy.

O'Aka XXIII offered the two to choose from any of his wares in exchange for their patronage. Naruto reminded himself of the battle with the Sin Spawn, how his short swords couldn't even scratch the scales on it. He swallowed his pride and asked the ecstatic merchant if he had a heavy weapon, one that could breach armor with pure kinetic force. As it happened, he did. The blade that Naruto ended up taking was absolutely massive. Almost six feet long, it was made of thick steel. Although it was a blade, it wasn't made for slicing, since the edges were blunt. The tip of the blade curved into two points, both flat edged. In between the two tips, was a blunted blade edge.

Naruto was certain that such a weapon would surely slow him down if he used it frequently. No doubt it would slow him down by simply carrying it on his back. So in order to carry the massive blade, he sealed it in a scroll that was held in his jacket pocket. He still kept the twin-blades on his back.

Rikku opted for a few more grenades, some elemental gems and a new claw that could help in the future.

By the time that they were finished, a call was heard from the top deck.

"Luca in sight, probably about an hour out!"

'Luca huh? That's the city that had a 'Blitzball' tournament.' Naruto thought as the call went out. Rikku made an excited noise and pulled on Naruto's arm. After a short dragging session to the deck, Naruto saw what all the commotion was about.

In the distance, there were streamers, balloons and all sorts of things flying through the air above the city. Alongside the port there was a massive stadium. Poking out from the stadium was a massive glass sphere. Naruto had absolutely no idea what kind of purpose that the sphere served. All along the docks, were ships of every size, shape and color. He swore that he spotted an Al Bhed ship around there. Beyond the dock and stadium, was an absolutely massive amount of buildings of every size. The whole city must have covered at least eight square kilometers. And not for the first time since his arrival, Naruto was in absolute awe.

* * *

Chapter 9 done.

First off, a confession. I think that I could have done a much better job for this chapter. Yeah there was a sappy love part and a few bits of fluff, but all in all I think that it's a rather boring chapter. And really I didn't feel like putting words in O'aka's mouth, I was just a bit tired and I couldn't describe the way he talked. The extra sword is a result of the request I had from the only person to answer my little competition that ended at chapter 4. For those who want to know, there are a couple more things on the way. Just don't expect something bigger than the sword I just put in.

I'll try to describe the Blitzball tournament as best I can, but no promises; I haven't played the game in ages. But there's always Final Fantasy wiki. That's my info source for now. It has some direct quotes but nothing I look for.

Again sorry for the relatively bad chapter I'll try and improve next time. Look forward to the next Spiran Shinobi!

Krimzon-8 out.


	10. Chapter 10

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 10: Time off

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu or Spells"

* * *

The ferry cruised around the harbor, looking for a viable spot to dock. On the bow, a figure could be seen looking straight at the giant glass sphere. Upon their face shone a bright smile. Said person was remembering good times, when they were once a Blitzball ace.

Their smile never faltered as the ferry glided into its dock. Ropes were thrown between the jetty and the ferry, and once it was secured, one by one, passengers began to disembark. A few amongst them were marveling at the beauty of the city. Others wore faces of excitement.

Among the crowd stood two teens, one in a red jacket, and the other in a sleeveless orange top, both of them blonde haired. Neither of them spoke, for they were both still awestruck at the city. Slowly but surely, they shook of their amazement and departed from the ferry. They slowly walked around the port, taking in everything of note. When they came to the Al Bhed ship, they spared a glance. With relief, they noticed that it wasn't a familiar ship.

"Reckon we should just get some tickets for the tournament, Rikku?" Naruto asked, leading her towards the reception.

"Yeah, nothing better to do anyway. But I am kind of hungry." Rikku replied.

"No problem, we'll buy our tickets, get lunch at a restaurant and be back in time for the game." Naruto placed his hands behind his head, pretending to relax.

Walking up to the front desk, Naruto whispered something about how everyone was four hours early for the tournament. Rikku simply giggled in response. A few minutes later they were walking across the bridge that led to the city, noting how everyone was walking in the other direction. According to the receptionist, not many people had ordered tickets in advance. They didn't realize just how many 'not many' meant.

In the city centre sat a staircase that lead to Mi'hen Highroad. A sort of traveler's highway, the sign next to it said that Chocobos were available for hire. Naruto didn't have the faintest idea what a Chocobo was; all that Rikku said was that he will see. Walking around the town centre, they soon spotted a reasonably small café. The people who ran it were just as nice as the café was small. And it turns out they didn't discriminate against Al Bhed. This immediately put it on Naruto and Rikku's 'favorite places in Spira' top ten, with #1 being Home. Yet again Naruto overpaid when they left. But the owners simply took it as a large tip.

Seeing as they had some time left, Rikku dragged Naruto all over the city to see the sights. Their final stop was a platform on the stairs towards the Mi'hen Highroad. The platform overlooked the entire city, giving the two a spectacular view. As they turned to leave, Naruto started talking.

"Rikku, do you really want to see this tournament? Not to sound offensive or anything, but we can see another game another time, right?" Naruto chose his words carefully, for he didn't know if Rikku had wanted to see the tournament or not.

"Yeah, I guess your right. But what about the tickets? Oh I know, well just give them to people waiting at the end of the line." Rikku didn't really sound disappointed, nor did she seem relieved. But in the end, she simply snatched the tickets out of Naruto's hands and ran towards the stadium. Poor Naruto didn't know whether she was being serious or just playing him. So after a short internal conflict, he ran after her.

* * *

By the time Naruto caught up to Rikku, she was waving good bye to some people who were happily running towards the stadium. She heard Naruto approaching, so when she turned to face him, she gave him an overly cheery smile. Seeing her like that scared him slightly.

"Well, tickets are gone. What do we do now?" Rikku asked with a giggle. Naruto was still a bit scared from her too cheerful demeanor.

"Well, I guess there's nothing more to do except walk around aimlessly, or go along the Mi'hen Highroad." He replied, trying to keep his voice level.

This time, Rikku simply nodded, firmly seized Naruto's hand and began pulling for him to follow. At first he was shocked, but then they settled down, but they didn't let go of each other's hand. Pretty soon, they were simply walking through the city hand in hand. From time to time, Rikku would pull Naruto over to a shop's window and point at something she found pretty, cute or just plain adorable.

After about thirty or so minutes of walking through the market district, they came to a jewelry store. A sign in the window read, 'Enchantments, Engravings and Custom work, Half Price, today only.' This gave Naruto an idea. He didn't need Rikku's approval, for she was already in the store.

The door opened with a bell tinkling. Rikku was hard at work scanning over the entire stock that was on display. Pretty soon, she stopped at a pendant that caught her eye. The pendant was the size of her fingernail, fitted into the silver-gold shell was a gorgeous topaz. The chain that was attached was a simple golden silver color. Despite it being rather plain, Rikku stared at it with wonder. When she finally saw the price, she was devastated.

The whole thing was 50,000 Gil. Naruto dug around his little sack of money. From what he learned from Rikku, he figured that he had at least 100,000. He made his way over to the shop keeper with a slight smile on his lips. When he got within to speaking distance, he started talking quietly, so that Rikku wouldn't hear him.

"I want to buy the pendant she's looking at. The one with the topaz. Also how much are enchantments and engravings?" He inquired.

"Enchantments are about fifteen thousand to twenty thousand Gil, depending on the kind of enchantment." Replied the shop keep, just a quiet. "As for engravings, I'll do them for a thousand."

"That's reasonable. I want an enchantment that gives her physical and magical protection. As for an engraving, I want it to say 'For the Thief who stole my Heart'." He replied softly. The shop keep was quickly writing everything down. After he finished, he looked up.

"Is she Al Bhed?" Naruto steeled his gaze. "Don't worry I'm not an Al Bhed hater. Just offering if you want me to have it written in Al Bhed." Naruto chuckled a bit.

"Sure. Can you have it done by tomorrow?" The shop keep simply nodded. "I think we'll take our leave now." Naruto said, whilst handing over the required amount of Gil.

Rikku was still looking at the pendant when Naruto tapped her shoulder and guided her out of the shop.

* * *

For the rest of the day, they were kept updated of the tournament by catching glimpses and hearing reports from commentators and shows. From what Rikku could gather, the Besaid Aurochs had reached the final, the final match was up against the Luca Goers. Said team had won the tournament several times in a row.

Naruto silently wished the best of luck for the Aurochs. Until the last game was over, the two decided to stay in the town centre, making talk about their childhoods. Surprisingly, Naruto decided to open up a bit to Rikku. He told her about how he was an orphan, about how he was kicked out at a young age and how every one to know of him and seemed to hate him for simply being alive. Every time he got to play with other kids, he had to watch as they went home with their parents, knowing that he will never have any. Although he left out his school life, stating that it was 'nothing special'. After all he didn't want to describe all he knew about chakra and Shinobi. By the time Naruto had finished, Rikku was rather teary eyed.

When he asked Rikku about her childhood, she answered that she only had her parents her brother for friends. She and her brother were homeschooled, while her father was the manager for Home. That all changed when Rikku's mother passed away. Her father was still around, and he tried to teach his children all he could. Yet it never felt the same without her mother. She told him of how her brother tried to defend her when a fiend attacked at the beach, the spell missed and struck her instead. Ever since then she had a fear of thunderstorms.

When they stopped talking, they overheard a radio report saying that the Aurochs won the tournament. The radio report was interrupted by a wave of static. After a minute of static, they heard a sharp, piercing roar from the stadium. From a distance, all they could see were thousands of pyreflies rising up from the stadium and airborne fiends flying around the open air ceiling.

But just as fast as the pyreflies and fiends appeared, they were gone. It was at this time that the radio cleared.

"Maester Seymour Guado, called upon his summon to save the audience of the Blitzball tournament." The commentator announced. "All of the audience is in shock at the sight of the creature that saved their lives. And without a doubt they are very grateful as well."

Very soon after the announcement, people in their thousands were flowing out of the stadium, all of them murmuring about what just happened. Naruto and Rikku decided to head to the platform that overlooked the city, to avoid the crowds. They didn't walk calmly, they ran there. Besides they could wait there for the summoner and her guardians. Now that he thought about it, it was rather strange that they didn't really know the summoner's name, or the names of some of the guardians. Well it wasn't that they were traveling with them, just going along the same roads. He would still need to know the summoner's name sometime.

No wasn't the time to think on such matters. Naruto wrapped one arm around Rikku's shoulders and led her up the stairs. Perhaps there was a traveler's lodge somewhere along the Highroad. When they reached the top, they were amazed by the sheer length of the highroad. It stretched beyond the horizon. Surrounding the path was tall grass that held who knows what kinds of fiends. Further along the road, dotting the sides were ruins of buildings and a statue of a soldier. To their immediate left, were several large, yellow feathered birds. The birds' beaks shined golden in the sun, their heads rose nine feet of the ground. To Naruto, they looked like a cross between a chicken and an ostrich. Strangely enough, on the bird's backs were saddles.

Naruto couldn't comprehend why the birds had saddles strapped to them. That was until Rikku walked over to them and slowly stroked one of the birds. She waved him over, and he cautiously walked towards the massive chickens.

"No need to be worried, silly. These are Chocobos. They are the mount of choice in these parts." Explained Rikku. "Although, I've never gotten the chance to ride one before." It wasn't long before she looked like she had a jolt of electricity run through her. In moments she was standing in front of Naruto with her hands clasped, eyes slightly watering and lower lip trembling. "Can I, pwetty pwease?" Naruto felt a slight twitch making itself known. He stopped it by shaking his head, which he also meant for a definitive answer to Rikku's question. "B-but, w-w-why?" She somehow kept up the cute girl façade, and managed to make it even cuter by adding the stutter. Naruto dared not to look at her eyes, the fake tears would probably spill out any second now and render his efforts useless. He still didn't know how to act around crying women, crocodile tears or no.

"Because, we're staying the night in Luca." He finally said, still _trying_ not to look at her. Rikku simply huffed and pouted. This stopped in favor of screaming her head off and trying to hit Naruto to little effect, as he picked her up and started carrying her over his shoulder. He walked towards the stairs with Rikku still hitting his back with her comparatively small fists. Pretty soon she gave up, trying to get back on her two feet and settled for trying to enjoy the ride. But as soon she stopped; Naruto altered the way he was holding her. He pulled her legs forward, twisted her so that she would lie across his chest while he supported her knees, while the other arm stopped her fall by catching her shoulders.

By the end of it, Rikku was dazed and comfy. Then she realized how Naruto was carrying her. As usual her face went red and she started to sputter incomprehensible sounds. He carried her until they reached the now mildly populated town square, where he dropped Rikku to her own feet. Naruto looked at a nearby public map, located the nearest inn and took off dragging Rikku behind him.

That night they slept rather comfortably. No interruptions, no fiends to attack them. Just them and a good night's sleep, in two different beds.

* * *

AN: Good god finally finished this chapter. First I had a tiny writer's block, and then I had to figure out what to put in the chapter. And I know Naruto didn't compete in the tournament. I want to keep it that way.

Yay, more fluff, I think.

Look forward to the next Spiran Shinobi!

Krimzon-8 out.


	11. Chapter 11

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 11: The Highroad

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu or Spells"

* * *

The night went by quickly. But for Naruto, it went by slowly. He stayed the entire time fully awake and alert. There was only one thing on his mind at the time.

'It's been three whole years since that day. The day he died.' He thought with ever growing sorrow.

In an attempt to stop that flow of thoughts, he began to remember what happened barely twelve hours ago.

The day started fairly normal. With him waking up to another unfamiliar ceiling, getting out and getting a set of clean clothes to wear. He would then spend another half hour waiting for Rikku. But instead of waiting, he decided to get a quick head start for what was going to happen. After quietly closing the door, he glanced at the sun. Judging from its position in the sky, Naruto reckoned it was about five in the morning.

Making a simple one-handed sign, he soon found himself in front of the jewelry store he visited the previous day. Luckily, the store's listed trading hours showed that it would soon open. As if to prove him correct, the door sign changed after five minutes. Naruto let himself in. The door swung open with the familiar tinkle of a bell. Standing in the middle of the shop, inspecting his wares, was the shopkeeper. Naruto didn't want to waste time, so he jumped straight in.

"So, you got my order ready?" He asked in a cheery tone that betrayed his still sleepy body. Smiling lightly, the shopkeeper simply held up his index finger as a sign to wait. He soon disappeared behind the counter and into what Naruto guessed to be the workshop. A few sounds that were similar to cardboard boxes moving about were heard from the supposed workshop.

"Ahh, here it is." Naruto heard the shopkeeper exclaim. A moment later and he was standing behind the counter placing down a small ornate box. The box was intricately carved in swirling golden patterns. Naruto was so amazed by the craftsmanship, that he almost didn't hear the shopkeeper say. "A free gift, since you paid so generously."

Naruto hesitantly picked up the small box and marveled at it yet again. He gave a short bow of thanks to the shopkeeper, and went on his way. In a few moments, he was back at the hotel, standing in front of Rikku's door. Guessing from the barely audible snores that were coming from the other side, she was probably still asleep.

Naruto took the chance to peek at his gift to her. He turned it in his hand, watching how the light shone in rainbow colored hexagon shapes. The light seemed to be blocked from reaching the shining topaz that was encased in the golden half-shell. Turning the pendant so that he could see the back, he smiled at the sophisticated way that the Al Bhed message was written.

"_Vun Dre Dreav Fru Cduma So Raynd"_ He read out loud, keeping his voice down so that no one actually heard him. Keeping the smile on his face he placed the pendant back in the box.

Not a moment too soon. Just as he closed the lid, Rikku's door opened. Stifling a gasp, Naruto quickly stuffed the box in a pocket of his jacket. The door swung open, revealing a fully dressed and slightly tired Rikku. Her eyes began to focus on him, and her lips curved upwards in a smile.

"So, we gonna go along the Mi'hen Highroad today?" She asked through a yawn. Naruto simply nodded, and motioned for her to follow.

The next half hour was spent getting breakfast and walking through the city towards the massive staircase that led to the Highroad. The view of the city was utterly breathtaking. The sun shone straight through the still full Blitzball sphere. The swirling waters separated the light into a fantastic moving rainbow. Each separated light ray reflected onto the city's rooftops, which in turn reflected the light onto the clouds above. The result was that the entire city was bathed in multicolored light, with the rooftops gleaming and the streets glowing blue, red, green and yellow.

From their viewpoint of the staircase landing, it was simply beautiful. Naruto could have stayed there, just staring. Yet he knew he couldn't. After a quick glance at Rikku, he softly took her hand and interlaced their fingers. At first she seemed freeze again, but then she relaxed and smiled. She stepped closer and rested her head on his shoulder. The two stayed like that for a while. But when they noticed that they had spent the better half of an hour simply enjoying each other's presence and watching the moving scenery, they moved off.

Even the highroad was impressive during the morning. The tall grass sparkled with moist dew and the rusted monoliths that littered the horizon gave the plains a rather serene feeling. Just to the left of the stairs were the chocobos and their trainers. Naruto nudged Rikku and nodded questioningly towards the giant birds. To which her response was vigorous nodding.

They paid the price to rent a chocobo, only one since Naruto couldn't afford two. The instructor asked if it was their first time on a chocobo. They answered to the affirmative. After a short instruction on how to ride a chocobo, they were off. To say the least, the ride was interesting. Rikku was clinging tight to Naruto as he steered the great bird around pedestrians and around bends. The chocobo chirped happily as it ran across the dusty road, flapping its stubby wings.

The giant bird had only been running for what seemed like a few minutes before a structure came into view. It looked like a small hut at first, but as they got closer, the building got larger. When they came within a few meters of it, they saw that the building was probably two stories tall. It even had a small chocobo pen around the back. Above the doorway was a large sign. In both Al Bhed and English characters it read 'Rin's Travel Agency'. A questioning glance and a shrug from Rikku, suggested that she never heard of Rin.

The two dismounted the chocobo, and beheld the sight before them. Directly across from the agency was a vast expanse of sea. Not far from the cliff side was an arch shaped ruin. The ruin didn't seem out of place however. It was almost like it belonged there. Naruto figured that it looked like a good place for a sunset.

Taking his eyes off the scenery, he began to search through their supplies, taking note of everything that they could need. His supply check revealed that they could use a bit more water and some more food.

"Rikku, we could use some more food and water. What do ya say?" Asked Naruto.

"I guess so, but get something other than bread." She replied.

Naruto nodded and opened went inside the Agency. Almost immediately he was face to face with a tanned, blond man with goggles strapped above his fore head. Said man had a light yellow jacket, which he wore open to show his chest.

"_Ah, how do you do?"_ The man asked in a distinct Al Bhed accent.

"_Not bad, surprised, but not bad."_ Naruto responded. The Al Bhed man was a bit shocked by Naruto's fluency with the language. _"Look I just want to top up my food and water stores then I'll go."_

"_Of course, can I interest you in some sweets to go along with your other supplies?"_ The man questioned. Naruto just shrugged. _"Then follow me good sir, oh and before I forget. I am Rin, entrepreneur and businessman. Always a pleasure to serve a fellow Al Bhed."_

"_Too bad I'm not Al Bhed. Sure I know the language, but that doesn't mean that I am one."_ Naruto stated back as if it were the most obvious thing. Rin simply grunted and continued. He motioned for Naruto to wait at the counter.

He came back a few minutes later with two small bags, one with a couple water bottles, and the other with various foodstuffs. In the bag with the water, there was a jar with several different sweets.

"_One hundred Gil"_ Rin said as he placed the bags on the counter. Naruto dug out the required amount, gave it to Rin, thanked him and went back outside.

* * *

Rikku was stroking the hired chocobo, lost in thought. Naruto decided to let her continue thinking and went about packing the bought food and drink. When he came to the sweets, he paused, and then got a devious idea. Taking the jar, he quietly stalked closer to Rikku. When he got close enough, he tapped her shoulder. She immediately spun around, and let out a sound of surprise. Naruto chuckled and waved the jar of sweets in front of her. Upon spotting the sweets, Rikku's eyes boggled and she made a pass for them, only for Naruto to pull them out of reach. But Rikku wasn't one to give up easily. She tackled Naruto onto the ground and pulled herself along his body and seized the jar.

Pretty soon she on her feet, jumping with joy that she got the jar of sugary sweetness. Naruto chuckled as he picked himself up. By the time he got on his feet, Rikku had ripped the lid off and started devouring the sugar coated candies. With each one that she popped into her mouth, she gave a moan of delight. Before she ate the entire jar of them, Naruto snatched the jar from her hand and replaced the lid. Rikku gave him a look of utter shock.

"Save some for later." Rikku hesitantly nodded, and let him put the jar in his bag. "Now come on, we still have a little further to go." He said climbing onto the chocobo. He stretched a hand down to pull her up.

The rest of the path was twisted and windy. For the most part, they were traveling on high cliffs. Add that to a fast moving bird with scrawny legs and it would be considered a miracle that they made it to the end in one piece.

The road to Mushroom Rock road was blocked by the military Crusaders. Along the road the sides of the road were various carriages filled with fiends and other dangerous creatures. Naruto overheard a summoner complaining along with her guardian to the guards.

"But we have to go through, I'm on my pilgrimage. I need to get to Djose temple." The summoner argued.

"Sorry ma'am, but we have strict orders to allow no one except Crusaders by. Besides if Operation Mi'hen is successful, there won't be any need for summoners." Replied the guard. The summoner took offense to that last comment and was about to give the guard an earful, when her guardian stopped her.

"Never mind Dona, we'll wait. Let the Crusaders try their foolish plan." Said the man slowly. The summoner simply sighed in defeat and walked away.

Naruto looked back at Rikku, who wore the same concern. "How about it? Wanna stay the night at Rin's?" He asked. Rikku just shrugged, unsure of what to do. Naruto took it as a yes and began steering the chocobo back across the cliff path.

By the time they got back, the sun was already setting. The chocobo was fairly familiar with the area and went behind the building and into the enclosed pen. Not before letting Naruto and Rikku off of course. The two walked into the building and spoke to the receptionist.

"We'd like to stay the night thanks." He spoke while handing over three hundred Gil. The receptionist simply nodded, handed them a labeled key and gestured to the door to the right of the common room.

The room they were given wasn't anything special, just a small room with a two person bed. A simple glance at each other told them what to do.

* * *

Within a few hours Rikku was fast asleep, but Naruto wasn't. In fact he wasn't even in the building. No he was on the cliff looking over the sea. The stars shining what little light they had on him.

The only thing on his mind was the day his best friend died. He couldn't do anything about it. One minute he hesitated slightly before slamming a Rasengan down his throat. Then he blacked out. When he came to Sasuke was dead, cuts littered his throat, and in his chest was a bleeding spiral shaped scar. That horrible scar was proof of a Rasengan impact. It was clear from the blood around him he had died a while ago. The only thing he could do now was carry the corpse back to the village.

Naruto's reminiscing was stopped by light creeping over the horizon. It was morning already. Without thinking, Naruto moved a hand over his kunai holster. Snatching out a three pronged knife, he threw it as hard as he could towards the arch shaped ruin. A soft chink in the distance was all that he needed. He pulled out another and slammed it into the ground at his feet. Quickly, he ran through some hand signs and soon vanished in a yellow flash. A few seconds later he reappeared in the same fashion. Only this time he was twirling the kunai on his index finger.

"Maybe you were good for something after all, Dad." He called to the sky.

XXXX

AN: well that's chapter 11. Took a little longer than usual, but then again, school is back on.

Naruto mastered the Hiraishin Jutsu. Expect it to be used in the future.

I know all of you were waiting for Rikku's reaction to the pendant, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little bit longer. Yes I blocked them from going through Mushroom rock road, but I think that this is better.

As for the Luca sunrise, well you never see one in the games so I just thought of what seemed likely. I mean that giant sphere of water has got to have some other purpose than just Blitzball doesn't it?

Look forward to the next Spiran Shinobi!

Krimzon-8 out


	12. Chapter 12

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 12: Moonflow

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu or Spells"

* * *

It has been three days since Mushroom Rock Road was blocked from civilians. Naruto and Rikku were tired of waiting around Rin's Travel Agency. As soon as first light broke the horizon, they were off. They didn't bother with renting another chocobo, since the first time it cost them rather dearly, so they walked. The high cliffs were relatively safe whilst walking slowly. Aside from the odd bat-like Cyclops things that liked to blind people, there was no risk of falling off the edge.

The roadblock at the entrance to Mushroom Rock Road had been removed. Judging from the tracks, they left the previous day. The footprints of varying size suggested that many civilians had passed through.

From what they could see from the Roads entrance, Operation Mi'hen had failed. In the distance, they could see the wreckage of a massive machine. It seemed that it was mounted on a massive tower, but since the Operation, the tower had snapped in two, causing the bulk of the machine to be crushed by the top half. The coastline was covered with human, fiend and chocobo corpses. The high ground was spotted with craters and destroyed tents. Littering the cliffs were many ruined cannons. Walking along the road were civilians, remaining military and several temple personnel.

The two simply looked at each other and started walking again. If they were going to be stuck in pedestrian traffic, the sooner they started, the sooner they would get out.

Pretty soon they were mingling with the civilians. Naruto heard "Djose Temple" and "Bevelle" quite often; from time to time there was "Guadosalam" and "Moonflow". He pondered these words whilst eavesdropping. From the way people used them, he figured that these were places of interest and Refuge. "Djose Temple" was quite obvious, while "Bevelle" and "Guadosalam" were likely towns. Naruto guessed that "Moonflow" referred to the way the moon moved. His thoughts were disrupted by Rikku.

"Ugh, how much further?" she groaned.

"It shouldn't be much further now. We have been walking for quite a while now." Naruto reassured her. But for the sake of things, he stood on his toes and peeped above the crowd. "I can see a fork in the road up ahead. Do you want to go left or right?"

"I'll decide when I see the sign," Was her response.

"It seems that most people are taking the right path." Naruto observed.

"We'll go left." Rikku decided instantly. It seemed that she didn't go with the flow.

* * *

It was another thirty minutes until they reached the fork. Driven by Rikku's legendary stubbornness, they took the left path while most refugees took the right path to Djose Temple. The sign that pointed left read, "Moonflow". Naruto let a small cross his face, he would see this 'Moonflow' sooner than he thought.

The path to Moonflow was a simple grassy valley. Along the edges were several booth-like fences, in which carts and crates were left to be picked up by couriers and the like. Naruto noted that the high walls made for a natural ambush zone. He instinctively grabbed Rikku's arm and pulled her close. She didn't complain, but she was startled at the way he was acting.

As if to prove his theory right, several bandits armed with long swords leaped from the high ground. A few meters behind where the bandits landed, mulled a group of fiends. They were brown in color; their broad bone plated backs were hunched over. Their small frames were supported b frail looking, stubby legs. The forearms of the fiends were just as broad as their backs, but they held them like natural shields.

"Give us the girl and all your money. Then we might let you live," demanded the bandit in front. Another one come from the side and looked Rikku up and down with a glint in his eyes.

"Looks like this one is still young and likely a virgin, boys!" He roared to the rest. In Naruto mind, he started seeing visions of Rikku screaming in horror as several naked men ripped off her clothes from all sides. And then, he snapped. All he could see was red. If anyone were to look him in the eye, they would turn tail and run, likely leaving the scent of urine behind them.

As quick as lightning, he snapped out the scroll that contained his broadsword. In a flash he pulled it out of suspension and threw four, three pronged kunai in a rough square around the bandits. Before they even reached their peak of flight, Naruto started spinning the massive sword in a low sweeping circle. As the first kunai buried itself blade first into the ground, he brought the sword up and threw it in the direction of the kunai.

Within milliseconds of releasing the hilt, he finished the seals and vanished in a blinding yellow flash. The thirty kilogram sword crashed _through _a bandit and kept flying, leaving a gaping hole in the man's chest. As it passed over the kunai, Naruto reappeared, grabbed the handle and threw it towards another kunai before vanishing again. On its way to the next kunai, the sword bisected one man and took the arm of another. Naruto appeared again and threw the massive blade once more before disappearing. With this final throw, three more bandits fell either dead or writhing in pain. Leaving only the leader alive and unharmed.

The leader fell to his knees, shocked that a _boy_ slaughtered his band of loyal men and in less than fifteen seconds to rub it in. He didn't notice the flash of bright light, nor the sudden weight on his right shoulder. Without warning, Naruto spun clockwise, bringing the sword with him. He brought the blade down in a diagonal motion, cleaving the man's body in half from shoulder to hip.

From the second that the first man fell, Rikku couldn't watch. She couldn't watch as the one she loved shed blood in her name. As soon as the leader fell, she rushed forward and grasped him tightly. Crying into his back, she whispered something that she hoped would reach his ears.

"Please, don't kill for me. It's too horrible to see you like a blood thirsty murderer." The more she said it, the harder she hit his back with clenched fists. They just stood there for a full minute before Naruto began to move.

"I can't help it. It's a part of me that I can't handle. Please believe me when I say that I don't like it when it happens." He was straining the words against his own shedding tears. "But when ever it does happen, I know that one thing is clear." He drew a ragged breath. "The only thing I think of, is keeping you safe."

She lifted her head up very briefly. But that was enough for Naruto to twist around in her grip and pull her into a warm embrace. From her angle, she could see just how heavy his tears really were. This might have been romantic, if it wasn't for the seven corpses of bandits and the small pack of fiends a short walk away.

Quickly remembering their situation, Naruto did some seals, vanished and reappeared where he left off, although he had a full pack of kunai now. Silently he pulled one kunai and threw it to the end of the valley. And then ran through the same seals for the fifth time that hour. He repeated the process until they arrived at a river bed. By that time, Rikku was feeling a bit queasy.

"Sorry about that, but we had to get moving before those fiends noticed us. And that was the fastest way to do it." He said with a quiet voice and sheepish smile, his eyes still a bit moist from his tears.

Releasing her from his hold, he walked over to the river bed and sat down, taking in the sight before them. Not long after, Rikku sat down beside him and laid her head on his shoulder.

The view in front of them was almost beyond words. The water sparkled with dancing colors. The light escaped refraction in spots, giving glimpses to the ruined city below the lapping waters. From the surface, Pyreflies floated and drifted lazily, leaving rainbow wakes in the air. The whole scene vaguely reminded the two of Luca and the beautiful sunrise. But this was on a whole other level. While Luca was man-made, this river was a natural marvel

"Naruto, promise me something." Whispered Rikku, she was so quiet that he almost missed what she had said.

"Anything." He responded.

"Please, don't ever turn into a monster. More importantly, don't leave me." As she said it, she fought back the urge to let her tears flow freely. Naruto on the other hand, looked like someone and just frozen his brain then rapidly thawed it out.

"I-I can't promise anything." That was it; either he didn't care what happened to her or what happened to himself for that matter. Rikku let slip a single tear, but just as she was about to run away, he spoke again.

"But, I will try my best not to become a monster. And I will never, ever, leave you. You're just too precious to me." For the first time since Hinata confessed. He let out a genuine sincere smile. Rikku took one look at this, and she could see that it was completely different from his other smiles and grins. This one was true. And once again he whispered those magic words. "And I never go back on my word."

It was too much for her, she let the floodgates fall. Pretty soon Rikku had tackled Naruto to the ground and was bawling her eyes out into his chest. Now Naruto didn't have a lot of experience with crying girls. But he still knew that when one was acting like she was, something was definitely wrong. He stroked her back and whispered into her ear that everything will be alright.

Rikku soon caught onto what he was trying to do, and whispered that she was perfectly fine. And that all she wanted to do right now was to have a bit of dinner and go to sleep. Fifteen minutes later, Naruto had the tent pitched up and a loaf of bread ready.

"Aw, bread again?" Rikku whined. "Why can't we have ramen or something?"

Naruto was thoughtful for a moment. There wasn't a reason not to have ramen.

"Yeah, I don't see why not." He said with a smile.

In a matter of minutes the single cup of ramen was ready for consumption. At least this time they had separate chopsticks. But that can sometimes that can lead to a different situation altogether. Unfortunately this happened. They accidently grabbed different ends of the same strand of noodle. Yet this piece ultimately broke from the strain the two were putting it through.

After their dinner (if one could call it that), the two had nothing better to do but simply look up towards the sky and watch as it slowly changed color, from light orange to deep blue. For once in his life, Naruto never really took notice of how the stars managed to magically appear in the sky. Yet now that he saw, he realized that it was quite astonishing that the stars seemingly went from dark empty sky to shining balls of light.

But all that didn't compare to the beauty that was beside him. He wished that he could tell her all about his past, but that would lead to questions and eventually her wanting to go there. He wanted to say that he wanted to stay with her forever. Yet no matter what, he couldn't get the courage to do so. Naruto never felt so helpless. He could tell Sakura that he liked her, but that was due to he knew what would happen. With Rikku, he didn't know what would happen. Would she accept him? Will she love him back? He didn't know.

Unknown to him Rikku was having a similar mental debate.

What if he doesn't really like me? Can I tell him how I feel? Will he accept me for who I am? All she wanted was for him to show that he loved her.

Her internal conflict was interrupted by Naruto stretching up and heading to the tent. Seems like he wanted some sleep, before he climbed in however, he turned back and said good night.

Even though it was a simple ritual to say goodnight before going to sleep, Rikku still felt her cheeks heating up. Pretty soon she was getting sleepy as well; she retired to the tent. During her sleep she snuggled up to him, that night she slept peacefully.

* * *

When the morning came, the two decided to continue down the Moonflow. The further they went, more and more people showed up. Eventually they came to what seemed be some kind of station. Resting near the boarding platform was a single massive creature. Naruto guessed the thing to be at least a good twenty feet tall. The nose was long and curved like a butterfly's mouth. Mounted on its back was an elegant open air carriage, colored red, which contrasted the creature's pale grey skin.

What baffled Naruto even more than the massive creature were the things surrounding it. At first glace they seemed to be blue skinned humanoids. A closer inspection would reveal a shiny slime covered skin and puffed out cheeks. The thing that freaked Naruto out however, was the size of their eyes and the way they walked. The things simply waddled about on their webbed feet, giving them a sluggish appearance. Their eyes were just plain creepy, they seemed to watch everything you did. Suddenly, one of them waddled over to Naruto and Rikku.

"Ridesh, the Shoopuff?" It inquired. From the way it spoke, it seemed that they slurred almost every word they spoke. When it saw their questioning looks, it simple pointed to the massive grey creature with the long nose. They made a silent 'oh' and nodded. "Three hundredsh gilsh pleash." It spoke holding out its hand.

Naruto rolled his eyes and dug out three hundred Gil and handed it to the blue man. It then led them to a screw driven elevator that was extended from a boom. It was a bit clunky but otherwise stayed strong, when it reached the top; it swiveled and swung the boom across so that the passengers could board the Shoopuff.

Naruto climbed on first and offered a hand to Rikku. She took it and he hauled her across. Sitting opposite form them was a summoner and her guardian. The summoner was dark skinned and wore a rather revealing orange outfit. While the guardian wore barely anything except for a pair of pants and crossed leather straps that went over his shoulders.

"Well, at least we won't be alone Barthello." The summoner said to their guardian. To which he grunted in agreement.

Naruto sighed and placed his hands in his jacket pockets. Where he felt something similar to a box, he snapped his eyes open.

'Damn it, I still need to give her the pendant.' He silently cursed himself. 'I'll give it to her at the right time.'

* * *

AN: Well, Chapter 12 done.

Now unfortunately I won't update for a little while due to the fact of getting Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta!

Also I did put this up on the night before my birthday. So I hope I did well.

Until next time, Look forward to the Next Spiran Shinobi!

Krimzon-8 out.


	13. Chapter 13

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 13:

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu or Spells"

* * *

The Moonflow crossing was, interesting to say the least. Naruto and Rikku made small talk with the summoner and the guardian. When they approached the half-way point, Dona, the summoner, leaned over the edge of the railing. Curious, Naruto did the same.

Below the water were sunken buildings of all sizes. Some were minor hovels while there were wide flat roofed buildings spotting the place. From time to time, there was the odd multi-story building. Dona explained that it was a relic to man's foolishness, claiming that they built an entire city on bridges, just because they could. Eventually, the entire bridge network collapsed under the weight. Just as she finished talking, the Shoopuff lurched, throwing everyone off their feet.

Within seconds a figure leapt out of the water, grabbed Dona and dove back into the water. A second later, another figure did the same to Barthello. Shaking off the shock, Naruto drew his swords and held them in a guard position. As soon as Barthello was underwater, the snatcher leapt back up and grabbed hold of Rikku. Before he could dive back, Naruto brought the hilt of his left sword down on the kidnapper's elbow. The arm gave way and Naruto brought his own up and elbowed him in the chin. Not waiting for a pause, he pushed the blade against the kidnapper's throat.

The kidnapper's outfit was rather familiar, but he couldn't place it. Rikku got it faster; the man's outfit was of an Al Bhed's. As soon as she realized this, she started speaking in her native tongue.

"_What are you doing? Are you trying to take us back Home?"_ She demanded whilst sliding her claw on. _"Tell us!"_

"_We're taking summoners so that they won't die needlessly on their pilgrimages. As for you two, we thought you were dead. Cid hasn't said anything, he kept himself locked up in his office."_ The man explained in a hasty voice.

"_Well you can go back and say that we're not dead!"_ Shouted Naruto.

The Al Bhed man was so scared that he quickly nodded his head and dove back underwater with all haste. A few minutes later, the Shoopuff started moving again. Rikku was frozen. Her own father thought that she was dead, that means that her brother thinks so too. She was so shook up that she didn't even register when Naruto brought her onto his lap and tried to comfort her. He should know what it's like, after all the people of his own home must think he's dead. His mind flashed through the faces and names of all those who used to like him. All in all, the only person he thought that misses him in Grandma Tsunade. Hell he used to think of that woman as the closest thing to a mother he ever had. He tried to imagine what she was feeling. Probably constantly signing paperwork and trying to forget everything with sake.

Slowly but surely, Rikku started to let tears fall down her cheeks. 'She must be completely broken. I could always let her go back to Home, but I made a promise to stay with her.' Naruto thought as she cried into his chest. 'It's not the best time, but it's either now or never.'

Naruto slowly brought a hand up to her chin, and slowly pulled her gaze into his. Her swirled emerald green eyes were red from the tears. Slowly and carefully, he pulled the box from his thigh pocket and held it in front of her. She took the box with trembling hands, and opened it. The jewel inside made her gape, even if she was still crying. Her hands still shaking, she lightly grasped it and turned it over to read the inscription on the back. As she read it, she silently mouthed every syllable. When she was finished, she looked up and tried to speak, only for Naruto to place a finger on her lips. He removed the finger, placed his hand behind her head and slowly brought his face closer to hers. With every millimeter that they drew closer, their hearts sped up. Just when his lips were a couple centimeters from hers he whispered.

"Rikku, over these weeks that we've been with each other, I can honestly say, that I love you." With that, he closed the last bit of space between them and pressed his lips against hers.

Rikku was absolutely ecstatic, but at the same time she was completely sad. For one, she didn't have to worry if Naruto rejected her. She found someone who she could love and be loved in return. But the news of her father still lingered in her mind. She was sad for what might happen if he realized that she was still alive, and not only that, travelling alone with a boy.

In a strange way, they balanced each other out. And she felt that as long as Naruto was with her, nothing could ever go wrong. As she reached this conclusion, she began to smile against the kiss.

The two broke for air and smiled at each other contently. That was until Rikku snaked her arms around Naruto's neck and pulled him into another kiss. At first he was shocked, but then he settled into it. They were interrupted by the Shoopuff stopping, and the sound of the elevator winding around.

In a few minutes, Naruto and Rikku were walking away from the station with blushes on their cheeks. They didn't dare talk to each other, after effects of each other's first 'official' kiss. Naruto can't really count this as his first, due to accidently kissing his dead friend Sasuke when they graduated. As for Rikku, she sort of took advantage of him when he was sleeping. But there was one thing they agreed with each other on. It felt wonderful.

* * *

The path to Guadosalam was straight with a few ups and downs. That was the good thing. The bad thing was that quite a few fiends liked to hang around there. For Naruto and Rikku, this wasn't much of a problem. They quickly dispatched the local fiends and continued on. But for some reason Naruto found something to be confused about.

"Why do fiends have Gil? Let alone a freaking potion. And where the hell did they put them?" He ranted.

"I don't know and I don't really care." Rikku groaned.

This kept up until they reached the entrance of Guadosalam, which rather scared them. The whole place looked organic, yet it was made of a very sturdy and shiny material. Naruto figured that like everything else, magic was probably the answer. Another scary thing was that the entrance continued _down_.

Rikku whimpered slightly as they descended into the depths. Not surprisingly, the cave was actually rather warm as well as lit up like a Christmas tree. Amazingly, there was absolutely no darkness to be seen. The doors seemed to be carved into the walls. At the very back of the cave was something akin to a palace or mansion. Opposite to the entrance was an exit to a different area. Naruto could faintly hear the rumbling and crashing of thunder and lightning. Rikku instinctively moved closer and behind Naruto.

Hovering close to the ceiling was a very ornate walkway that was guarded. At the end of the walkway was a film of transparent material that seemed alive, yet it moved like water. Situated around the cave were several shops and houses, each one behind a door that led further into the cave wall. On the lowest floor was a single inn, the only one that was in Guadosalam.

But it was the inhabitants of Guadosalam that captured their attention. Many of them were tall with very long arms. Covering their lanky bodies were fancy suits and dresses. Almost every single one had their hair slicked back which then turned into root like spikes, even the women had the strange hair style. Naruto figured that it just grew like that, along with the strange colors of green, blue and occasionally orange. Adorning the end of each arm were massive hands. While the females' hands were naturally more slender, the males' were massive and brutish. Yet how they looked and how they acted seemed to be completely contrasted.

All in all, Naruto thought that this was a very strange place. At first he wanted to move along towards the thundering area, but then he recalled a conversation he overheard from the refugees. They talked about the 'Farplane' what ever that was. Apparently it could let one see relatives or friends that had passed on. At first he didn't want to believe it, yet he found that such a thing might be possible. Hell there was magic, why couldn't people talk to the dead too?

He thought back to the only person who truly didn't hate him, The Sandaime Hokage. Maybe, just maybe he could talk to him, receive advice from the very person that did everything they could to help him. Naruto's thoughts drifted to Rikku, maybe she would want to see her mother. Tell her all that has happened. This thought brought a smile to his face.

"Rikku, do you want to go to the Farplane?" He whispered to her. She gave a curt nod. Naruto took her hand and led her up several flights of stairs, following the signs to the film of transparent magic. Both took a deep breath before taking a step into the unknown.

Passing through the film was a strange experience. Naruto felt his entire body shiver at a simple touch. He tried dragging his finger through the film, and much to his surprise the film flowed around it, creating ripples that spread across the entire screen. He tried to push against it, and found a very slight resistance. Very similar to water resistance, it was there, but almost unnoticeable. With a shock, he fell right through the film. On the other side was not what he was expecting. Instead of falling into a watery substance, he was in air. In the distance he could hear the calls of Pyreflies, that ominous sound that they made when they drifted through the air. Naruto never really paid attention to the sound, but now that he did, he noticed that it was somewhat like somebody exhaling crossed with a whale call.

Naruto turned back and looked through the film. Rikku wasn't moving, she didn't touch the or anything. She silently said 'I'll tell you later'. Naruto nodded in acceptance. Rising before him was a massive ascending stair case which seemed to be made of the same material as Guadosalam. Swallowing his doubt, Naruto began to climb.

He continued until he reached a platform. But the scenery around said platform was utterly breathtaking. From his position, Naruto could make out several waterfalls cascading down many cliffs shaped in a rough 'U' canyon. Spotted amongst said cliffs were plateaus of green grass and vibrant flowers. Floating around all these were Pyreflies, thousands, hundreds of thousands of them floating serenely. A quick look around the platform registered several visitors spread around the edges. Silently, Naruto made his way to an unoccupied edge. Placing his hands in the ram hand sign, he shut his eyes and tried to recall everything he could about the old man Hokage. When he opened his eyes, he saw nothing. The old man was no where to be seen. Sighing in disappointment, he began to trudge back down the stairs.

* * *

Rikku didn't want to seem mean; it's just that Al Bhed prefer to keep their memories as that, memories. They had a saying for such things, _'Lilyhuim ehi rusi, pod dned'm ecc dnia ehi.'_ translated it meant 'Memories are nice, but that's all they are.' But also as an Al Bhed, she believed that the Farplane simply created illusions based of a person's memories. So when she saw Naruto reappear, she was about to make a snide remark about the Farplane. But something stopped her, the way he held his eyes down, the way he drooped as he took a step. Then she finally caught sight of something, a single tear falling from his eyes. But it wasn't a tear of happiness; this was a tear of sorrow.

Rikku tried to move close to him, yet she couldn't. It was as if something invisible was holding her back. Then it hit her, she couldn't know what was going on. She wasn't there with him. She silently regretted not going with him. Pretty soon Naruto disappeared form her sight. When he did, she could finally move.

Rikku caught up to Naruto at the central stairway. He was simply sitting on the steps, not caring about the people that moved about him. Slowly she sat herself next to him. She was about to say something when he beat her to the punch.

"He wasn't there." He said through clenched teeth. "The only person, who cared about me before I came here, wasn't there."

"Maybe he is still alive?" Rikku, asked uncertain and in a quiet voice.

"No, he's dead. I was at his funeral, I saw his body, complete with a smile on his face."

"Look, I don't know why he wasn't there. But you can't stay like this. You need some rest; it's been a long day for both of us." She reasoned. "Come on, well book into the inn. And as a thank you for the pendant." She leaned in closer to him. _"Zi'cc yrca omi yri pit." mni znumbihit zudn e tifucumn mluhg. Ur dhodn mni hiecca tutr'd zerd dy nefi miq zudn Rehody."_

Naruto let out a small chuckle. Apparently the he got what she meant. So he simply nodded, got up, seized Rikku's hand and led the way to the inn.

That night was a peaceful one for the both of them, and both had dreams of what could happen in the future together.

* * *

AN: Yay chapter 13 done.

Special prize for first person who can translate the last three sentences of the third last paragraph.

Prize shall be a chance to get the winner's choice of what to happen further in the story.

1, Have a Lemon happen in the future. [NaruRikku of course]

2, Have another character [Of winner's choice] be brought in from Naruto's world.

3, Have Naruto get a super-awesome jutsu/weapon of winner's choice and description.

**For answer to be valid it must be sent to me via PM.**

On a completely random note: Rikku is translated in Al Bhed as Neggi

Until Next time, look forward to the Next Spiran Shinobi!

Krimzon-8 out.


	14. Chapter 14

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 14: Thunder Plains

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu or Spells"

* * *

"_Cid! Cid!"_ called a voice through the eerie darkness. The words bounced off metal hallways and thick doors, until it came to a dead end.

Inside his office, Cid was looking over a portrait that showed his family. His son, standing in front of his mother, his blonde hair shaped into a Mohawk. His wife, standing behind his son with her hands of his shoulders. Her green eyes shone with tender loving care. Then finally, his daughter, Rikku, she was standing next to her brother and in front her father. In the picture she was barely six years old, the gap where her front teeth should be was proof of that.

Cid looked at his daughter's picture sadly; the last thing that reminded him of his late wife was gone forever. His thoughts were interrupted as his door burst open, revealing an Al Bhed man that was short of breath.

"_Cid,"_ the man breathed. _"When I was out… rescuing our latest target… I ran across Rikku and Naruto! They're alive!"_

Cid's eyes shot open, his daughter was alive and was with the new kid. He turned to the man. _"Where were they? And why aren't they with you now!"_ He demanded.

_"__To be honest, it seemed that they didn't want to come back, and I doubt that I could take Rikku away without being killed by Naruto. He looked extremely protective of her."_ The man admitted.

Cid sighed in defeat; at least his little girl was safe. _"What about the next target, Yuna?" _He couldn't have the child of his sister giving her life away needlessly, all to stop Sin. There were other ways, damn it!

_"__Rin has reported that Lady Yuna has arrived at his travel agency in the Thunder Plains. She and her guardians are resting there. Whilst Lady Yuna herself seems to be concerned about something."_ He reported.

Cid thought over the possible places to try a sneak attack. It was rumored that her guardians were quite powerful. They would need a quick and decisive victory. A machina with similar capabilities would be needed. Yuna's destination was Macalania Temple, which was situated amongst a lake that has been frozen for centuries, before the lake was a massive frozen forest. Maybe they could use the environment to their advantage.

_"Get my son and his team assembled and ready for departure. They are to be taking the Crawler and Negators."_ He ordered, the man ran away with the intent of relaying the message. 'If this doesn't work than nothing will.' He thought himself.

* * *

A night in Guadosalam is rather peaceful. It was quiet, warm and comfortable, that was until morning came. The sounds of many doors opening and feet pounding on the floor echoed and amplified throughout Guadosalam. The constant rumbling from the Thunder Plains didn't help either.

'Maybe that's why Guado's have poor hearing.' Mused Naruto as he woke up.

The night before, when he and Rikku asked for a room, the receptionist kept asking them to raise their voices. This irritated Naruto to no end. The resulting shout ended up blasting through the entire cavern, not that any Guados actually heard it. It wasn't that Rikku was too modest to shout, it was just that Naruto beat her to the punch, again.

He thought back to the previous night, how the old man didn't show up on the Farplane. The event saddened him deeply, yet he felt relieved. It meant that any connection from his home was gone forever.

Naruto's thoughts were disrupted by a movement next to him. Straining his neck to turn around, he finally caught sight of her. Rikku was true to her word, they indeed shared a bed that night. When she goes to bed Rikku lets her hair down, instead of keeping it in tassels. The resulting effect is rather stunning for the Shinobi. She turned a bit, trying to find a better position to sleep in. Finally she settled down when she was on her side, facing Naruto. For his part, he simple wriggled closer, wrapped his arms around her waist and back and pulled her slightly closer. He stifled a chuckle when she snuggled closer into the embrace, trying to get more of the warmth.

They stayed like that for another hour or so, with Rikku sleeping like a pup and Naruto in a half-sleep. They were so comfortable; they actually got a full night's rest and then some. Unfortunately this moment of utter bliss was shaken when Rikku stirred.

At first she stretched her legs under the sheets, but when she tried moving her arms, they were slightly restricted. Opening her eyes to see what the problem was, she was greeted by the sight of Naruto's lips. It was about then that she felt his arms around her. She could feel his barely uneven breath; it tickled to feel it lightly brushing against her face. Once again she was tempted to stretch her head up and take another kiss from the blonde boy. Yet this time, she didn't hesitate. And just like the first time it happened, Naruto's eyes shot open, but at least he didn't run away. Instead he leaned into it. When they broke, they both smiled.

"Good morning to you too, Rikku." He said, keeping his face close to hers. Neither of them wanted to break contact, but it was inevitable. They would have to get up and leave Guadosalam sometime.

Naruto started out, by sliding his hands away from her waist. He rolled over to the side of the bed and swung his legs over. Rikku did the same but a bit slower, since she just woke up. Naruto walked over to his pack, pulled out his red jacket and proceeded to pull it on, while Rikku tied her hair back up into the pony tail with mini-braids, although she kept the mini-braids when she slept for easier management the next morning.

After collecting their wares and making the bed, they checked out and walked towards the Thunder Plains. Rikku was getting extremely nervous, she would have to face her greatest fear at the moment, Lightning. Ever since that time when her brother tried to chase off a fiend that attacked her, she had rather severe Astraphobia.

Yet when she was close to Naruto, those fears almost seemed non-existent, except for when she heard a loud thunderclap. In an attempt to keep those fears at bay she clung tight to her unofficial boyfriend. Naruto wasn't sure what Rikku was doing, but at least he wouldn't have to worry where she was all the time.

Arriving at the Thunder Plains, Naruto saw what he pretty much assumed. The sky was thick with dark storm clouds, letting absolutely no light through. Very frequently, lightning struck the soaking charred ground. While quite a few lightning strikes arced towards the many metal towers that were placed through out the plains, many more still struck the ground, leaving craters in their wake. Add to the fact that it was constantly raining, and there was a good chance that one would get electrocuted, catch a cold or probably lose their hearing. If one had rotten luck, then they would get all three.

Naruto was about to take a step, when lightning struck right in front of him. Rikku yelped in response and jumped back from the now scorched ground. Tentatively, Naruto took hold of her hand and gently started leading her into the plains. Both were at the threshold, Naruto was worried, he couldn't sense lightning coming and move in time to dodge it. He would have to test the responsiveness.

Whipping out a standard kunai, he waited until the next bolt hit. It struck, Naruto threw the knife. Barely two seconds into its flight, and the kunai was struck. The remnants of the knife crashed into the earth as molten slag.

Hiraishin was out of the question, he couldn't waste any of the required kunai. 'Shunshin? No, that was for familiar places only. Damn it Naruto, think!' He berated himself mentally. There needed to be a way to get across without Rikku getting hurt. Then it hit him.

"Rikku, do you still have that pendant I gave you?" he suddenly asked her. She wasn't sure why he was asking, but she nodded. "Put it on, trust me."

"But why? I mean, how will the pendant help?" she questioned.

"I had it enchanted; it will weaken physical attacks and completely stop elemental magic." Naruto explained.

Rikku's eyes widened, 'He had it enchanted? I knew it was more than a pretty jewel.' Hastily, she dug the pendant out and looped it around her neck, but she had a hard time trying to clip it on. "Umm, little help?" She asked with an embarrassed smile.

Naruto just shook his head and fastened the pendant around her neck. For a single moment, the gem gleamed. Rikku could feel something around her forming, yet she couldn't see anything. However she did notice the slight waver in the air before it vanished.

After the magic had activated, Naruto smiled at her. Even with the fancy enchantments, he didn't want to risk it against actual lightning. He knew what lightning felt like, thanks to Sasuke, and it was painful. In the distance he saw a sheltered building; maybe if he could get there, he could Shunshin back, collect Rikku and go back without a fuss. For her, it was worth risk.

"Rikku, Stay here. I'll be back in about five minutes." He said confidently, before running full pelt out into the storm.

* * *

Lightning struck all around him, but he kept running. Pumping more chakra into his legs, he increased his speed, three fold. Fiends lashed out, but he didn't dare to stop. Massive lizards tried to get in the way, he jumped around them. But then there was a truly epic beast. Standing on its hind feet, the fiend was easily over twenty feet tall. Wicked horns grew upon its skull, sharp teeth decorated the snarling mouth. Claws like knifes extended from the end of its massive limbs. Naruto knew what he was facing, a Behemoth.

'Damn it, I do not have time for this!' Naruto unsheathed his twin blades as he approached the monster. With a flick of his wrist, one blade whipped out and sunk into the Behemoth's flesh. The beast roared in anger as it started to bat at the offending person approaching. Another flick of his wrist and Naruto was yanked towards it.

The Behemoth crouched on all fours, ready to strike at the insect. Naruto focused his chakra into his other blade. As he passed over the Behemoth's head, he sliced downward with the infused blade. The sword cut clean through the horn of the massive creature. Not missing a beat, Naruto let go of the retracting sword and sheathed the other. He reached into his jacket, pulled out a scroll and unsealed the broadsword from its oblivion.

The Behemoth's hind leg was fast approaching, and Naruto swung with all his might. The broadsword connected with the fiend's leg and snapped it in two with an almighty SNAP! The beast didn't let the injury hinder it though. It shifted its weight onto its other side, relieving it of the pain. Yet Naruto wasn't finished, quickly following up with a decisive swing to the other leg, breaking it as well.

The fiend was forced to collapse onto the ground as it writhed in pain. Racing towards the head, Naruto prepared the final strike. Digging the broadsword's edge into the skull, he balanced on the top of the hilt with his legs stretched out above him. As a nearby bolt struck the ground, Naruto brought his body down. The blade swung down from its pivot in the skull, cleaving the brain, snout and jaw in two. As the beast let out its final roar, it slowly began to dissolve into Pyreflies. Naruto calmly resealed the broadsword and retrieved the twin sword before continuing to the building.

A few minutes later and he reached it. For once in his life Naruto was panting from exhaustion. The running burned a lot of his chakra, and the battle with the Behemoth didn't help. He quickly memorized the building in front of him and made the seals for the Shunshin Jutsu. Just as he finished the jutsu, a bolt of lightning struck exactly where he was standing. To anyone who saw, it would have looked like he disappeared into the lightning bolt.

Appearing with a poof of smoke, Naruto looked about the cave entrance and spotted Rikku. She was sitting against the edge of the wall, waiting for him to return. When she heard the poof, she was greeted with the sight of his smiling figure. Rikku jumped up and wrapped her arms around Naruto. Every lightning bolt that struck near scared her half to death and back. But it wasn't over just yet. For as soon as she embraced him, Naruto began the seals all over again. With another poof, the two were standing in front of the building that Naruto had run to.

In that moment, Naruto noticed what the sign read.

"Rin's Travel Agency" in both Al Bhed and English.

* * *

AN: Chapter 14 done, and in one sitting too. Man I am good.

OK Puzzle time! And I bet that hardly anyone will get this one.

The winner of last time's puzzle was: **Owned6**

The winner will get to decide Rikku's new weapon!

Remember: **Answers must be submitted Via Private Message to be valid**

And now that the formalities are out of the way, here's the puzzle and clue to help.

Puzzle:

VMOE HKAE KRDC

GEAC RYFG CDYE

HATL NESC UHCU

YN

Clue: It is more than simple translation, there is a message within the message, try removing some words and switching them around

Good luck!

Look forward to the Next Spiran Shinobi!

Krimzon-8 out.


	15. Chapter 15

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 15: Macalania

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu or Spells"

* * *

"Yes, shelter!" cried Rikku as she rushed into the building, leaving a tired Naruto lagging behind.

The clerk at the desk noticed his apparent tiredness and spoke up. "Um… sir? You seem tired. If you like, we have a room available if you'd like." she gestured to the hallway to her left. Following the direction of her hand, Naruto nodded and placed a couple hundred Gil on the desk then set off down the corridor.

The first room he came across had a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on it. Voices could be heard through the door. Naruto ignored the door and continued to the next one, which was empty. Plopping down on the bed with a heavy sigh, he shut his eyes and quickly fell asleep, to hell with taking off his equipment.

Meanwhile back in the lobby, Rikku watched as he boyfriend trudged down the hallway. She considered following him, but seeing as the storm couldn't hurt her, she decided to look around.

Among the people in the lobby, there was a woman in a black dress that revealed a bit too much for the Al Bhed's taste. A man near the woman wearing yellow and blue clothing, a comparatively short Ronso stood in the corner. The last person was wearing a red jacket and black leather shirt, his right arm was held in the cuff of his jacket like a sling. Covering his eyes was a pair of small reflective shades. Near the mysterious character was a huge sword, not nearly as large as Naruto's but still fairly large.

Rikku was about to simply head down the corridor and join Naruto, when a sudden thunderclap shocked her to the bone. Instinctively, she quickly huddled herself and silently whispered to herself that she wasn't scared. After a minute of comforting herself, she got up and quickly walked to the only room with the door open. Said door was left open by a certain blonde in their rush to get some sleep.

Noticing that her boyfriend was fast asleep, Rikku quietly closed the door and settled herself next to him. As she began to relax, Naruto's arms came up and around her and pulled her close. At first she thought that he was indeed awake, a quick glance at his eyes and a few seconds of listening to his steady breathing proved otherwise. Pretty soon, Rikku gave into sleep herself. With Naruto's arms around her it seemed that not even the loudest thunderclap could disturb her, even slightly.

* * *

About a half-hour later, Naruto started to stir. For the second time that day, he woke with something warm pressing up against him. After a moment or two of struggling with his eyelids, Naruto managed to open them. The sight of Rikku's shining hair greeted him. As Naruto tried to pull his arms off her, she just snuggled closer and closer into his chest. Seeing that the usual method was not going to work he vouched for another way. As quietly as he could, Naruto moved his mouth closer to her ear. When he was in range, he took a deep breath, unable to believe what he was going to do.

"BANG!" he shouted, point blank into Rikku's delicate ear.

In an instant she was up and shrieking her head off. The novelty laughter from Naruto quickly silenced itself. Usually Rikku would be shouting at him for such a cruel joke, yet she wasn't. Instead she was huddled up in the corner of the bed, shaking with fear. Like a timid mouse, she shyly looked up at her boyfriend, allowing him to see how scared she was. Tears were built up and were threatening to fall. Her slender arms were wrapped around her knees, keeping her vulnerable areas protected.

"Rikku," Naruto whispered softly. "I'm sorry that I scared you. I should have been more considerate." Carefully, he wrapped his own arms around her and tried to comfort her.

She couldn't take it anymore; she hated being treated like a weak little kid. In a burst of strength, she pushed away from Naruto and ran out the door. Not even hearing his pleas for her to wait. Ignoring the confused looks from the people in the lobby, she charged through the exit. Very quickly, she bumped into another person. Rubbing her head and preparing to shout at them, she was cut short by another voice.

"Rikku? Is that you?"

It was the blonde guy who they rescued back on the boat. The people around them looked slightly confused at the one sided conversation. One was a bit more vocal than the rest.

"Tidus, friend of yours?" asked a familiar man dressed in the Besaid Blitzball colors.

"Oh, yeah. Yuna, Lulu… I told you about her, remember? She was the one who helped me before I washed up on Besaid."

"So, you like, owe her your life or something. What luck meeting here of all places, ya?" As he finished, Wakka spread his arms and brought together as if cradling a sphere, and finally bowed. 'Praise be to Yevon,' he muttered during the gesture.

"Wait, where's the other guy? You know the one who was also with you?" Tidus suddenly remembered.

"Oh, h-him… we got separated." She hastily explained. This was quickly followed by a different, huskier voice.

"Wakka..." Lulu started.

"There's something we need to discuss." Yuna finished.

"Oh, go ahead then." He replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Girls only! All boys wait over there!" chimed Rikku.

Tidus and Wakka grumbled a bit, as they were forced to not be able to listen in. So they never did get to hear what they talked about. Most likely they were catching up on recent events or something.

In actuality, the three girls were talking about the newcomer and the summoner.

"So, you're cousin Yunie!" Rikku exclaimed rather loudly, luckily a thunderclap prevented the men from hearing.

"Yeah, Uncle Cid's sister was my mother." Yuna replied with a smile, which suddenly turned into surprise as Rikku bear-hugged her. "Ok, ok calm down Rikku. Come on we need to get going."

"Oh, where we going?" The blonde asked rather excitedly. Yuna didn't answer, since Lulu came to her rescue.

"Macalania Temple. Yuna's going to give her answer to Maester Seymour's marriage proposal." That statement left Rikku gaping and unable to respond.

The two older women sighed and began to drag Rikku back to the others. They managed to convince them that she was joining them as a new guardian. Within moments the group was travelling across the Thunder Plains and battling fiends in relative peace.

* * *

It had been thirty minutes since Rikku had ran off, and Naruto still hadn't moved since he'd been thinking of what he had done to anger her so much. Everything he could come up with didn't match up. And since she ran off, he was feeling a little angry as well. The first thing he did to try and quell his anger was punch a random wall… that didn't really turn out well. Naruto ended up punching right through that wall, leaving a gaping hole. Thinking fast, he quickly put a sizeable amount of Gil near said hole. Hopefully he would leave without being chased down.

Without further distractions, the Jinchuuriki left. Outside there was no sight of Rikku what so ever. Usually she'd be too terrified to wander the Thunder plains alone. Before he could contemplate any further, a man ran by excitedly. He claimed to get a picture of Lady Yuna's group of guardians, and to prove he wasn't making the entire thing up, he shoved said picture into people's faces.

When he did it to Naruto, all he could see was a girl in the background. It was Rikku; she'd gone off with those people. He grabbed the gleeful man by the collar and demanding to know in which direction they went. The man simply pointed in the direction of Macalania woods. Naruto immediately dropped him and ran straight for the woods, ignoring attacks from various fiends.

* * *

It took several hours to get to cross the transition between the rain soaked plains and the Macalania woods. When he reached the forest's edge, he suddenly noticed a dramatic drop in temperature. And if the footprints in the soft ground were anything to go by, the group was rather close.

The frozen trees of Macalania weren't as big as the ones in the Land of Fire, but they would do the job. The first time he tried to tree hop, he instantly regretted. The branch snapped almost on touch alone. This troubling fact complicated things quite a bit for Naruto, he'd have to search the dense forest on foot.

Only a few minutes into the forest, and Naruto spotted several paths, each one crossing over with several others in the distance. A sign post before him told which paths lead to which destination. The one to his left led to the city of Bevelle, while the one in the opposite direction led to the 'Calm Lands'.

Footprints were impossible to follow; due to the freezing temperatures the ground was solid as a rock. Naruto was desperate; he didn't know which way Rikku went. He'd lost her, lost her like he lost his friends. They abandoned him, and now the first person he truly loved did too. The sudden rush of memories and emotions washed over him, causing Naruto to break down in the middle of the frozen forest.

Tears flowed freely from his eyes. He beat his fists against the frozen ground until they bled. When the pain finally registered, he let out a pained roar. The activity attracted a few fiends that were nearby. A couple of them were like icy relatives of armlets, another looked like a giant wasp. Yet the final one took the cake. It was composed of a bull's body and head, another head of a bluish lion, an eagles head and a snake for a tail.

Naruto heard the steady thumps from the creatures' feet, and prepared. He slowly stood up, unsheathed his short swords and faced the fiends with a grim expression. With the blades glowing with chakra, he let out a mighty roar and charged.

* * *

Rikku was looking over Tidus' shoulder as he was peering into a sphere that his father apparently left. They got to a part where they were standing outside a travel agency, with Jecht and Auron posing for the camera. The red clad samurai was protesting, but the leader, Braska, told him to suck it up. The screen faded, and Rikku swore she could see something stirring in the faded screen.

"What's the point? He wasn't on some pleasure cruise." Tidus grumbled.

"I think there's more." Rikku piped in.

The sphere only showed Jecht, and it seemed that he was talking directly to Tidus, essentially just telling him that he was stuck in Spira like he was. The final words he left were 'I believe in you, be good. Goodbye.'

"He almost sounded serious, but it was too late." Tidus commented.

"He was serious." Auron responded. "Jecht had already accepted his fate."

"His fate?"

"Jecht…he… He was always talking about going home, to Zanarkand. That's why he took al those pictures, to show to you when he returned. But as he journeyed with us and came to understand Spira and Braska's resolve… It happened gradually, but Jecht changed. He decided he would join Braska in his fight against Sin."

"So then, he gave up on going home?" Tidus summarized.

"That was his decision."

Tidus went into a bit of thinking for a moment, but he quickly broke out of it and suggested to keep moving. After everyone left, Auron took him aside for a quick chat. Rikku couldn't hear what was being said; she simply figured it was something to do with Tidus' father.

The chat didn't last long, since they joined up with the group soon after. When they neared the edge of the woods, Auron stopped the group to cut a path through some trees into what looked like a suitable place to sleep. Rikku settled herself near the back and amongst the trees. The sunlight that shone and reflected through the treetops and ice sheeted surfaces started to slowly fade, signaling the coming of night.

As Rikku drifted off into blissful sleep, she tried to imagine how Naruto was taking her sudden leave. She figured that he would simply shrug and move on, but she had heard strange things in the forest. There was a faint cry of despair that echoed from the edge of the woods that she heard a little more than an hour ago. Yuna also heard it, the very sound of despair sent shivers up her spine.

Kimarhi also heard it, and since he was the most animalistic of them all, he understood the cry. It was one of losing something very dear to oneself. He did it once himself, after his horn was broken, to be never recovered. Then there was the subsequent roar that came just after the cry. It was one of frustration and rage. Likely one of the fiends attacked whatever made the sound. Kimarhi did not dwell on these thoughts however; his first objective was to make sure that Yuna was safe from harm.

Rikku didn't know what to think of it, it was so familiar but then again, so alien. When it reached her ears, she shivered uncontrollably. Not even Tidus' friendly soothing helped her that much. She didn't know what made the sound, but she could tell that it was hunting them, relentlessly searching for them and it was not going to go away until it found them. That night when she slept, nightmares invaded her pleasant dreams. Nightmares of running from fiends more ferocious than the Aeons themselves.

When Rikku woke, it was already dawn. Then the fear of being constantly stalked sunk in. Whether it was due to the morning's cold climate or something else, Rikku shivered.

* * *

All throughout the night, Naruto searched the forest. The only thing that told him that Rikku went through here with that summoner was a single path that was roughly cut through the trees. The path ended at a fairly large spring with a very big tree at the other end. Although fiends were about, Naruto chose this area for a rest.

A whole night searching through a frozen forest really took its toll on even him. Especially since he'd only had a few moments sleep before taking off. Naruto was tired, bruised, his clothing torn and his muscles ached. Even so, it was not enough for him to even think of abandoning his search for Rikku. Generally, he had no idea of where to search next. His destinations would be Macalania temple, the Calm Lands, then Bevelle and then the forest again.

Before that there was the issue of directions. Naruto didn't carry the map; Rikku did, so at the moment he was completely lost. For now, he'd just try and follow what ever paths he could find. Hopefully, one will lead to Macalania Temple.

Shortly after finalizing his plan, the sun began to shine through the trees. Quickly taking a bite out of a loaf of bread, he began to head out.

* * *

When the rest of Yuna's guardians awoke, they ate and set out for Macalania temple which, according to Auron, wasn't far. The old guardian's word was true, since barely fifteen minutes of walking on the path the trees cleared, giving way to the sight of snowfields and a massive frozen lake.

Off to the side, there was another of Rin's travel agencies. Whilst Tidus went over to talk to a Chocobo Knight, the rest went over to the agency, where a rather humble looking Guado walked up to them.

"Lady Yuna, we've been expecting you," he greeted with a bow. "We were surprised you decided to come so soon. Pleasantly surprised, of course. Lord Seymour sends his apologies for leaving without notice."

"It's quite alright," she replied. "I have a question, if I may, sir."

The Guado simply gestured for her to continue.

"I want to keep journeying, even if I marry. Do you think that Maester Seymour would let me?"

"But of course, my Lady. Lord Seymour wishes nothing else, I'm sure."

Yuna turned towards her guardians and nodded, bidding them goodbye.

"Well… we must follow Guado tradition. I'll have to ask you to wait here a little while longer. I will send someone to escort you upon our arrival at the temple."

At first Yuna was hesitant to leave, but eventually settled down once Auron spoke a couple words of reassurance. After that, he turned to Tidus and muttered something. Without warning the blonde ran up ahead and called to Yuna, then whistled.

Turning back with a smile on her face, Yuna replied with a sharp 'Yessir!'

Out of the corner of her eye, Rikku could see something moving across the plains.

"Oh, no!" she cried.

"Al Bhed!" shouted Wakka.

Acting as one, all the guardians rush to protect Yuna. Despite their efforts, the Al Bhed machina reach her before they do. In a panic, the Guado tried to take Yuna to safety, but she refused and stayed with her guardians.

"_Rikku!"_ A shout from above them sounded. The speaker was a heavily tattooed man wearing nothing but denim overalls, some gloves and a pair of goggles.

"_Tuh'd ehdanvana un oui kad drac!"_ he continued. Beside him a large machina rumbled up. It was moved by four screw-like wheels and had a massive barrel mounted on the main hull. Hovering above the machina was a drone that was emitting strange whirring sounds. _"Ouin bnaleuic _Magic_ yht _Aeons_ yna caymat!"_

"Uh, oh." Rikku drew out in a sing-song voice.

"Translation?" Tidus pleaded.

"They're using an Anti-magic field on us!"

"_Kad dras!" _The tattooed man shouted, signaling for the massive machina to attack.

Yuna and Lulu heard what Rikku said, they knew that they'd be a burden without their magic to aid them, they could practically feel the magic being drained from their bodies. Tidus being the hot-head he is, leapt into the fight, long sword glowing and fully intent on protecting Yuna. What he didn't expect was for Kimarhi to do the same. The Ronso jumped straight up and came crashing down upon the machina, only making a dent with his lance.

Auron tried to slice the motors off, but only managed to weaken it. Wakka put his Blitzball skills to good use, by targeting the drone flying above them. With a slight spin on the ball, the champion player threw the ball with pinpoint accuracy, knocking the pesky drone out of the sky. As it crashed to the ground, Lulu and Yuna could feel their magic replenishing.

At the same time, the crawler began to spin its barrel, gathering more and more magic with each revolution.

Rikku was busy being a thief at the moment, sneaking behind the machina and breaking what ever wire looked important. While taking a quick look at the cannon's wiring, she accidently broke a thin red wire. The resulting sound wasn't too pleasing. There was a reverberating booming sound from within the hull. The effect was that the cannon was fired prematurely. Instead of a broad beam of destructive magic like it was designed, it shot a marginally smaller beam of magic. The beam, while smaller was also more focused, blasted past the guardians and into Macalania Woods, bisecting several trees along the path of destruction.

After the light-show was over Rikku uttered a single word. _"Cred"_

* * *

Naruto had spent half the day searching blindly through the Macalania Woods. From time to time, he'd come across some recent battle grounds where the ground was scorched or burnt. He swore that there was an area that had been slept in for a night. At the moment, Naruto was at the threshold of the Calm Lands, he'd given up on searching the woods for now, thinking that Rikku had left for another place. That was until he heard the sound of trees falling and a high pitched buzz.

Turning around, he saw that quite a few trees had been bisected. Following the path of destruction, Naruto could hear the faint noise of battle. Swords clashing, spells being cast and explosions.

With only one thought on his mind, he raced along the path, all the while repeating the mantra in his mind. 'Please be there, please be safe.'

* * *

Shortly after the crawler prematurely fired, it self destructed.

The retreating tattooed man shouted at Rikku in Al Bhed. "E femm damm Vydran!"

"_E ys dra_ Guardian _uv_ Yuna_, oui caa?_ Yuna _ec cyva! Fa femm kiynt ran! Cra ec cyva!" _she replied sharply.

"_Oui tu drec ymuha, cecdan!"_

"I told him I was a guardian…I guess I had to, really." She explained as she saw Wakka's face.

"How come you speak Al Bhed? Why?" he started out, looking to Lulu and Tidus for guidance. Lulu simply didn't respond, while Tidus was having trouble forming a coherent sentence.

"Because I'm Al Bhed. And that…was my brother."

"You knew!" he accused Tidus and Lulu. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We knew you'd be upset." The black mage answered.

It was about then that Rikku and Wakka started having an argument about whose beliefs were correct, with neither succeeding to convince the other. The argument ended when Auron asked Rikku to fix some of the machina, which she happily applied herself to. In the mean time, Tidus and Lulu tried to calm Wakka down.

In a few moments, much to Wakka's frustration, the guardians were driving along the edge of the frozen lake towards Macalania Temple. Tidus and Lulu were having an eye-opening talk, Rikku was content with the silence that Auron provided, and Wakka was still brooding over Rikku being Al Bhed. It wasn't long till they reached the Temple.

* * *

AN: Well, there we go an extended version of Spiran Shinobi. Sorry for making all you guys wait for about two months since chapter 14.

And I'll try to keep this length of chapter. This is about 4000-ish words.

I would like to thank for their public script of Final Fantasy. Been a real life saver that.

Keep watch for the next Spiran Shinobi.

Oh before I forget winner of chapter 14's comp was **Archangel2016**.

Don't worry, I'll fit it in there somewhere man.

Krimzon-8 out.


	16. Chapter 16

All characters of Naruto belong to Kishimoto. All characters of Final Fantasy X belong to Square Enix

Spiran Shinobi

Chapter 16: Unleashed

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon Talk"**

'**Demon Thoughts'**

"_Al Bhed Talk"_

"Jutsu or Spells"

* * *

'Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!' was all that was going through Rikku's mind as she ran from the Guado. She and the other guardians had battled against Maester Seymour, during which he summoned Anima, his personal Aeon. It was a truly terrifying experience for Rikku, if it weren't for Yuna's new Aeon, Shiva, they would have been dead a long time ago. Of course, at first she had trouble even getting into Macalania Temple, but after Auron convinced the guards that she was one of Yuna's guardians they let her through.

Now, she was running for her life with the other guardians. Yuna and Kimahri were out in front, leading the way out. Tidus was bringing up the rear, mostly because he wasn't a fast runner.

They were almost at the middle of the lake, when a massive humanoid fiend jumped out in front of them, forcing them to fight. The moment they slowed down however, let the Guado get close, leap over them and back-up the beast. Everything so far has gone from bad to worse, Rikku dearly hoped that everything would get better, otherwise they will get worse.

As the guardians waited for the fiend to make the first move, it began to lose patience. Right in front of it were prey and it feasted on the flesh of the breathing. Yet, its captors commanded it to stay put and wait for them to make the first move.

Suddenly, its patience was stretched too thin and snapped. It let out a furious roar and began to beat the ground with its fists, unaware of the consequences. Just as it was about to charge, the ice beneath the fiend shattered, causing it to fall into a dark abyss.

Rikku yelped in fear as the crack suddenly began to widen and stretch towards the group. She was too terrified to move, the crack was moving so fast. Before she knew it, Rikku was falling through the frozen air.

Luckily, her fall was broken by a pile of gathered and crushed ice shards. The first thing she saw before blacking out was the other guardians falling and a strange red blur leap across the open sky.

* * *

Naruto was furious, he had just arrived at Macalania Lake to see that Summoner with her guardians and Rikku running from Guado. Just before he stepped out of the frozen forest, a massive fiend landed in front of them and cracked the ice sending them down below the horizon.

In a freakish slow-motion, he watched as Rikku fell from his view, letting out a terrible scream of terror.

Now, standing directly in front of him, Naruto could see the instigators. Everything in his mind and body told him to crush them into a fine paste and smear them across the ice. He just saw them send his girlfriend down to their likely death. Naruto was angrier than he ever remembered.

'**Give in to your hate.'** Spoke a voice in the back of his mind. **'Allow me to help you exact revenge against those who have caused you harm.' **The mind was becoming enticingly favorable with each syllable it spoke.

On the outside, Naruto was changing. His pupils were slits, irises blood red. Fingernails sharpened into lengthy claws, and his canines grew sharper. Slowly, thick, viscous chakra began to surround him. It covered him from head to toe, shaping into the figure of a fox. Two ear-like spikes extruded from the head of the cloak, three more began to form by his tail-bone.

A deathly roar escaped his lungs and melted all the ice near him. Tensing his legs, he pounced at the nearest Guado. A single swipe from his claws ripped them in two. Another leap took him over the newly formed gorge and towards the enemy. Three more swipes and his bloodlust still went unsatisfied.

'**That's it, come closer boy. Destroy everything that causes you pain.'** The voiced coaxed.

Naruto's legs buckled, his skin began to peel off and burn amongst the demonic chakra surrounding him. Within seconds, he was covered in a sphere of smoke and blood. Within moments, a stinging wind blew away the snow in a kilometer radius.

What was left was truly terrifying. Whatever was left of Naruto was hardly visible. Covering every fiber of his being was a deep crimson cloak made of his own blood. Sprouting from his tail-bone were another two tails, giving a total of five tails. Extending from the elbows, knees and his spine were small juts of bone. As time passed, each piece of bone got longer and longer. Before the ice melted anymore, the demonic form of Naruto leapt towards the temple at frightening speeds.

Although in mid-jump, he felt something stir from behind him. The entire lake shattered, and a massive shape rose from the water. The demonic Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion. The power it sensed was immense.

A purple wave erupted from the shape. Naruto leapt to confront it, a sixth tail forming.

As the wave approached, Naruto's sixth tail had finally formed, along with more bones, including a skull that stretched over his own head. Opening his jaws, a ball of pure chakra began to form on his bone snout. With another roar, the glowing ball was sent flying towards the wave.

The two forces collided, and sent nearby ice chunks flying and melting. The winds became so ferocious that the Guado at the temple felt it. They could swear that what they saw was definitely something that could rival the power of Sin.

A seventh tail began to form. Naruto's chakra cloak began to expand rapidly, growing to a size at least double Naruto's mass. Slowly, a fine layer of tissue began forming on the bones.

With the formation of the seventh tail, Naruto was able to break through the purple wave and beyond. The being that shot forth the wave of purple energy was none other than Sin, the bane of Spira. Without any feeling of pain or remorse, he sprinted at the massive beast. Not being aware of the eighth tail growing.

The now fox-like Naruto began to grow exponentially, almost tripling in size once again. On top of the skin, raw muscle began to show on the body, on the tips of his ears and tails, surface skin and hair were actually beginning to show.

Still running full pelt, the ninth tail came into existence, first starting as a stub and then snaking its way outwards and past the others. A wave of skin, muscle and hair quickly followed the lead, eventually coming to a halt and the end of the tail. Starting from the spine, surface skin and hair grew impossibly fast along the massive fox.

By the end of the transformation, the blood red eyes of the Kyuubi were burning holes into the beast's thick hide. As it reached half-way, the large canine skidded to a stop, opened its jaw and mustered all the chakra it could, each of the nine tails arching over the spine and hovering over the snout. Without even waiting for it to fully compress, its jaws snapped shut over the sphere of pure chakra. Evaporated saliva steamed out from the gaps between the razor sharp teeth. The moment the Kyuubi opened its mouth, the immense energy from the ultra-compressed chakra shot forth.

Upon impact with Sin, the explosive power from the chakra destroyed everything that it came across. The ice that wasn't vaporized either cracked or turned instantly to water. Part of the mountain range behind the lake ended up as molten slag. But at the apex of the attack, sat Sin, not even mildly damaged by the power of the Kyuubi.

At seeing its foe unharmed, the Kyuubi let out a deep and anger fueled growl. Before it could launch another attack, it simply disappeared from existence, leaving only a boy of fifteen where it originally was.

Sin, seeing that the threat was no longer evident, simply sank below the water. Another moment later, there was a brilliant flash of light. When the light faded, Sin, Yuna and her guardians had disappeared.

* * *

**Moments before**

Naruto knelt before the Kyuubi's cage, water lapping at his legs, his jacket torn in two. On his stomach was the seal that kept the Kyuubi at bay. The spiral in the center was slowly turning black, the gaps between the lines barely visible. Ink mixed with blood dribbled out from the seal, staining the water beneath.

In one more feat of will, he stood up and reached for the seal that kept the cage closed. His fingers brushing against the edges of the seal, he stayed there for a while, still as a statue. After a moment, he slid his fingers underneath and pulled.

Only to be stopped by another hand snapping out and grasping his wrist. Instinctively, Naruto snapped his eyes towards the newcomer, it shouldn't be possible. This was his mind; only he and the Kyuubi were residents. Just who was this person, how did he get into Naruto's mind?

As if reading his mind, the stranger turned his head towards him, allowing Naruto to see his bright blue eyes that were almost covered by his blonde bangs. The stranger's face suddenly split into a grin as his mouth stretched and his visible eye softened.

It was then that Naruto noticed the man's clothes, more specifically what he could see. A short sleeved white haori stretched down his back, where decorative flames danced and flapped at the bottom. In large Kanji over the spine, read 'Yondaime'.

"Father" Naruto whispered, as the Yondaime pulled him away from the cage. 'Minato Namikaze, my Father.'

As soon as he was flat on his feet, Naruto did the only thing he thought reasonable. He slammed his fists into his father's stomach so hard that he doubled over.

"I guess I…deserved that…Naruto." The Yondaime breathed out between pained gasps.

"I don't know…whether I should…beat you until you're dead…o-or to thank you, Father." Naruto said through his sobs.

"Thank me? For what?" The elder blonde asked, genuinely confused.

"If, you never did this to me…I would never have met Rikku." Naruto said softly. "But on the other hand, I should hate you, for everything I went through."

"That's fair; after all, I never wanted any of this to happen. On the bright side however, you won't have to deal with that guy with the mask." He said nervously. "Just know this son; I have never been prouder of anyone else, even Kakashi. Mastering my technique, and escaping the endless circle of hatred. No one else could have done it. Although, your Hiraishin still needs work. Can't let people know when you're using it, right?" He said with a wink.

"What about, Mother?" Naruto asked quietly. "What was she like?"

Surprised by his son's question, Minato Namikaze smiled serenely as he recalled his numerous memories of Kushina.

"She was a lovely woman, a little hot-tempered sometimes, but I loved her. More than anything…that was until you came along, son." Minato responded softly, his head bowed and eyes closed in memory.

Upon opening his eyes again, he saw that his image was starting to fade, his time short and his chakra almost gone.

"Naruto, I'll restore the seal. It's the least I can do." He said, placing his fingertips on the circular seal and twisting his wrist clockwise. "As for your mother, well you'll just have to ask her yourself." He whispered with a knowing smile and just loud enough for his son to hear. He chuckled when he saw Naruto's eyes widen and confusion crossed his features.

"Now my time is short, just one more thing." Minato said strongly. "Remember my son, I believe in you, no matter what happens. You have my faith in you." He said softly as he began to fade.

"Thanks, dad. I'll remember."

* * *

AN: Wow, been a long time hasn't it?

The idea for this chapter just popped into my head, while I was walking around town. Don't get me wrong, I actually spent a while on how this would work out. I knew that I had to write the father-son reunion thing. Truthfully the anime version almost had me in tears.

Um. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

In response to some of the last chapter's questions:

1, Yeah, I could have found a better plot device, just couldn't be bothered writing another one though.

2, Naruto didn't 'let' Rikku run away. Really why the hell would he be searching for her if he did? He was just stunned by her.

3, Rikku ran away because of impulsiveness 'mood swings' and because she thought that Naruto was treating her like a child. (Seriously, I can't believe how many of you missed that one sentence where it clearly states that she didn't like being treated like a child.)

Anything else? Hope not.

All done for now, catch you guys later.

Krimzon-8 out.


End file.
